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THE LAW 



OF 



AND OTHER 

Prominent Ecclesiastical Bodies 



A MANUAL 

FOR CHURCH OFFICERS 

WITH FORMS 




GEO. H. HUMPHREY 

COUNSELLOR-AT-LAW 



THIRD EDITION, WITH APPENDIX 



///j-tr i 



f 



few fork 

JAMES POTT & CO., PUBLISHERS 

14 and 16 Astor Place 
1891 






Copyright, 1890, by 
JAMES POTT & CO. 



The Library 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



Press of J. J. Little & Co. 

Astor Place. New York 



PREFACE. 



In presenting this little book to the Churchmen 
of New York, the writer trusts that he has supplied 
a real want. He has endeavored to present clearly, 
and in a concise form, those legal questions which 
are of most frequent inquiry at vestry meetings. 
While claiming nothing original for the work, he 
believes that, although omitting some subjects of 
rare occurrence, he has presented in an inexpensive 
form all practical matters likely to engage attention 
in the ordinary conduct of the business of the 
Church. It embodies also the very latest legisla- 
tion and decisions on the important subjects con- 
sidered. 

Rochester, N. Y., October 6, 1887. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 

PAGE 

The benefits of incorporation I 

The corporators 3 

The notice 4 

Hour of meeting 4 

The meeting 6 

Who may vote 7 

The questions to be decided 9 

Election, how conducted 10 

Certificate of election, how made 11 

How long the office of wardens and vestrymen continues II 

CHAPTER II. 

OF ELECTIONS. 

When held 13 

Notice of 13 

The qualifications of voters 13 

How conducted 15 

Power of presiding officer 15 

The certificate 15 

Of vacancies, how occasioned 16 

How vacancies may be supplied 17 

CHAPTER III. 

OF THE VESTRY. 

Of whom it consists 18 

Their power to call a rector 18 



VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

To have a common seal 19 

Their custody of the temporalities of the church 20 

Their authority to sue . . . 21 

The office a trust 22 

Power over church buildings 22 

Power to make rules and regulations 22 

Power to appoint officers 22 

They have no power to divert church revenues 23 

CHAPTER IV. 

OF THE RECTOR. 

A constituent part of the vestry 27 

Is called for life 27 

Connection with parish, how dissolved 27 

His rights 27 

Salary cannot be reduced 29 

His right to a hearing if charges are preferred 31 

Right to preside at vestry meetings 31 

Has casting vote 31 

His exclusive power over church buildings 33 

His authority over the music 34 

No assistant minister may be called except by him 35 

The assistant subject to his control 36 

His duty 37 

No right to leave his congregation , 37 

CHAPTER V. 

OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 

No legal actfon except at meeting regularly called 38 

The notice 38 

The quorum 40 

What constitutes a majority 41 

What constitutes a legal meeting 41 

The presiding officer 42 

Business, how conducted ............. 42 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll 

PAGE 

No power to dismiss rector 43 

Canon on that subject 44 

CHAPTER VI. 

POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER THE REAL ESTATE OF THE CORPO- 
RATION. 

To sell it 47 

To mortgage it 48 

Sale, how effected 48 

What petition must contain 48 

How verified 49 

Their power over the pews 49 

Of pew rentals 50 

The rights of pew owners 51 

CHAPTER VII. 

OF MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

Of changing number of vestrymen 56 

Resolution for that purpose 56 

How notice to be given 56 

Action of corporation 57 

The certificate. 57 

Of changing the name 57 

Meetings for that purpose 57 

Petition and its contents 58 

Of consolidation of churches 59 

Action of the vestry 59 

The agreement 59 

The approval 59 

The petition 60 

The order of the Court 60 

CHAPTER VIII. 

OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

Laws of 1876 giving certain powers 62 

Trustees of Parochial Fund in the Diocese of Western New York 64 



Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Trustees of Diocese of Central New York 66 

Conveyance to trustees in Diocese of Western New York. ..... 69 

Board of Missions of Diocese of Albany. . , 74 

Trustees of the Estate of the Diocese of Long Island 76 

CHAPTER IX. 

OF TAXATION. 

Churches exempt from 78 

But subject to taxation for local improvements 79 

What churches are exempt 79 

Clergymen exempt from 81 

CHAPTER X. 

OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

Free exercise of religious profession 83 

No persons to be debarred from it by threats . 84 

The disturbance of public worship 85 

The power of the officers of the church to preserve order 86 

CHAPTER XI. 

OF MARRIAGE. 

The rector's duty by canon law 88 

The rector's duty by statute law 8S 

Deposition may be required 89 

The .rector's record and certificate 91 

The certificate as evidence 91 

The penal code 92 

The age at which marriage may be contracted 92 

SUPPLEMENT. 

WITH FORMS. 

Form No. 1. Notice of meetings to incorporate society 93 

" 2. Certificate of incorporation 93 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX 

PAGE 

Form No. 3. Notice of election 95 

" 4. Certificate of election 95 

5. Petition to change name 96 

" 6. Order of Court thereon 97 

" 7. Petition for sale of lands 98 

" 8. Order of sale 100 

9. Agreement for consolidation ior 

10. Petition for consolidation 103 

11. Order for consolidation 104 

12. Certificate of change in number of vestrymen. . . 106 

13. Certificate of marriage 107 

14. Deposition of applicant for same 108 

15. Notice of meeting to convey lands to Trustees of 

the Parochial Fund 108 

16. Certificate of action of electors 109 

17. Of deed to trustees no 

18. Petition of Trustees of Parochial Fund to convey 

property in 

19. Order of sale thereon 113 

APPENDIX. 

The law of other prominent ecclesiastical bodies. See Com- 
plete Index. 205 



THE LAW 



OF THE 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 

WHILE any number of persons may assemble for 
public worship in accordance with the rites and 
usages of the Protestant Episcopal Church, it is 
necessary, in order to secure to them the full privi- 
leges of an organized Church, including the power 
to induct a rector, to elect wardens and vestry- 
men, to hold real estate, to use a seal, and to main- 
tain an action for the protection of their rights, that 
they be incorporated under the laws of the States, 
which with few exceptions throughout the Union 
make full provision for that purpose. 

The benefits of the incorporation are obvious, 
and consist, 1st, in the protection of the members 



2 OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 

of the congregation from personal liability for the 
debts of the Church ; 2d, the light of the statute 
law which clearly defines and regulates the duty of 
the corporate body ; and, 3d, convenience in carry- 
ing on and promoting the work of the parish. 

Says Chancellor Kent : " It was chiefly for the 
purpose of clothing bodies of men in succession 
with the qualities of one single artificial and ficti- 
tious being that corporations were originally in- 
vented, and for the same convenient purpose they 
have been brought largely into use. By means of 
the corporation many persons are capable of acting 
in perpetual succession like one single individual, 
without incurring any personal hazard or responsi- 
bility, or exposing any other property than what 
belongs to the corporation in its legal capacity." 

2 Comm.y 268. 

In order to give an organization for public wor- 
ship legal rights, and to impose on it legal obliga- 
tions as a corporate body, there must be a special 
law declaring its existence, or there must be an in- 
corporation under the provisions of the general law 
relating to religious societies. 

Petty v. Tooker, 21 N. Y., P., 267, 271. 
Van Bur en v. Church, 62 Barb., 495. 



OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 3 

The Corporators. 

" It shall be lawful for not less than six male per- 
sons, of full age, belonging to any church or con- 
gregation in communion with the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church in this State, not already incorpo- 
rated, to meet at any time at the usual place of 
worship of such church or congregation, for the 
purpose of incorporating themselves." 

2 R. S. Banks 6r» Bros., 7 Ed., p. 1654. 

It will be seen that the persons attending the 
meeting for the purposes of incorporation must be — 

1st. Not less than six in number. 

2d. Males of the age of twenty-one years and up- 
ward, and 

3d. Must belong to a church or congregation in 
communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

If, as seldom happens, the parties intending to 
form the corporation are not already members of 
the religious body named, or are organizing a 
church in a place where there was before no Epis- 
copal Society, it would be proper for them to apply 
to the Bishop or Standing Committee of the diocese 
to be received into such communion, and they could 
probably take no further legal action until such 
recognition was granted. 



4 OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 

The statute requires them " to meet at their usual 
place of public worship." It is necessary, therefore, 
that they secure a building, hall, or room, and con- 
duct divine service there in accordance with the 
usages of the Church for a period long enough to 
make it " their usual place of worship." The meet- 
ing of the corporators must be held at such place, 
and it should be occupied for that purpose probably 
for two or three months, or certainly long enough 
to satisfy the terms of the statute. 

Any building, room, hall, or compartment will be 
sufficient as a place for conducting such service. 

The Notice. 

" A notice of such meeting, specifying its object 
and the time and place thereof, shall be publicly 
read in the time of morning service on two Sun- 
days next previous thereto, by the rector or offi- 
ciating minister, or, if there be none, by any other 
person belonging to such church or congregation ; 
and shall also be posted in a conspicuous place on 
the outside door, near the main entrance to such 
place of public worship." 

(As to the notice, see Form No. I.) 

The hour when the meeting shall be held is not 



OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 5 

fixed by law, but it should be at a seasonable and 
convenient hour during the day or early evening. 

It is an excellent custom to hold it immediately 
after Morning Prayer, when the mind is fresh and 
unwearied, and a spirit of kindness and harmony 
has been evoked by the solemn influence of the 
early service. 

The place of meeting must be that commonly 
used for public worship, whether it be only a single 
room where two or three have been wont to assem- 
ble for religious service, or the church edifice al- 
ready built. 

The notice must be not only read, but posted in 
a conspicuous place on the outside door, near the 
main entrance to the place of worship. 

An election on any day other than that named in 
the certificate of incorporation is wholly illegal, and 
the persons then chosen are not a vestry either de 
jure or de facto. The vestry of the then expiring 
year will be still in office, and the only persons em- 
powered to transact the business of the society. 

First Church, etc., v. Hillary, 51 Cat., 155. 

An election held on the same day, but before the 
hour specified in the notice, would doubtless be un- 
lawful. But if held a few minutes after, or even an 



6 OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 

hour after, it would probably, by analogy to other 
cases, be sustained. It certainly would be, if no 
one was deceived as to the time. As if the rector 
having another engagement at the hour noticed, 
should leave some one at the place of election to 
notify all comers that it would take place at any 
time within an hour later. But any material vari- 
ance in the time would in any event be fatal to the 
validity of the election. 

Reynolds v. McElhone, 20 How. Pr. } 454. 

The Meeting. 

At the time and place specified, at least six per- 
sons, including the rector, if there be one, must be 
present, or there will be no quorum sufficient to 
continue the work of organization. But it would 
be competent for a less number to adjourn the meet- 
ing to such time during the day or evening as 
might be necessary to secure a sufficient attend- 
ance. 

If the requisite number is present, the rector, if 
there be one, or, if there is no rector, then one of 
the church wardens or vestrymen, or other person 
called to the chair, shall preside at such meeting, 
and receive the votes. As soon as the assembly is 



OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES 7 

called to order, a clerk should be appointed to keep 
the minutes of the meeting, and prepare the neces^ 
sary records. It is made the duty of the presiding 
officer " to receive the votes." This must incident- 
ally give him power to appoint the tellers, and to re- 
ject any illegal ballot. 

Who May Vote. 

The persons entitled to take part in the meeting 
must be males of full age belonging to the church 
or congregation, qualified as follows: 

1st. They must have been baptized in the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church, or have been received 
therein by the rite of Confirmation or by receiving 
the Holy Communion ; or, 

2d. Must have purchased, and for not less than 
twelve months next prior to such meeting have 
owned, a pew or seat in such church ; or, during the 
same period of time, have hired and paid for a pew 
or seat in such church ; or, during the whole period 
aforesaid, have been contributors in money to the 
support of such church. 

Any person of full age belonging to the congre- 
gation, if he was baptized in the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, or has been received therein by the 
rite of Confirmation, or by partaking of the Holy 



8 OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 

Communion, may vote without further qualifica- 
tion. 

But if not a communicant, or so baptized, he must 
have owned either a pew or seat in said church for 
twelve months ; or, during the same time, have 
hired and paid for a pew or seat in said church ; or, 
during all that time have been a contributor in 
money to the support of such church. 

The contributions required must have been habit- 
ual, and for the use and support of the religious 
incorporation itself. 

It is the duty of the presiding*orncer to see that 
none but legal votes are received ; but, if they have 
been received without objection, they cannot after- 
ward be questioned. 

Harttv. Harvey, 22 Barb., 55. 

The receipt of illegal votes, too, if challenged, 
will not avoid the action of the corporators, unless 
enough shall be received to change the result. 

The People v. Tuthill, 31 N. Y. R., 550. 

An election or other action of the corporators 
will not be set aside and declared void merely be- 
cause illegal votes are received from persons not 
entitled to vote, if there is still a majority of legal 
votes in favor of the same. 



OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 9 

The Questions to be Decided. 

The persons so qualified shall decide by a major- 
ity of votes : 

1st. The name or title by which such church or 
congregation shall be known at law. 

2d. On what day in Easter week an annual elec- 
tion for church wardens and vestrymen shall there- 
after take place. 

3d. What number of vestrymen, not less than 
four or more than eight, shall annually be elected, 
and shall, together with the rector (if there be one), 
and the two church wardens, constitute the vestry 
of the church. 

4th. And shall by a majority of votes elect two 
church wardens and the number of vestrymen that 
it shall have been determined to be annually 
elected, which church wardens and vestrymen thus 
elected shall serve until the next regular election. 

The meeting should first determine by a majority 
of votes what number of vestrymen, not less than 
four or more than eight, shall annually be elected. 
This may be by motion or viva voce vote, as the 
term vote signifies merely an expression of the will 
of the meeting, and the statute does not require a 
written vote, that is, a ballot. 

It might be more convenient, also, to determine 



IO OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 

in the same way, the name of the church, and the 
day in Easter week on which the annual election 
shall be thereafter held. 

It would seem, however, more satisfactory to 
elect the officers of the church by ballot, as that 
course has received the sanction of long and almost 
invariable custom, and leaves greater freedom for 
the expression of the wishes of those present. 

No one is eligible to the office of warden or ves- 
tryman unless also qualified to vote at such elec- 
tion, as it cannot be that the law would permit 
lower qualifications for those intrusted with the 
government of the parish than it requires from 
those by whom they are chosen. 

A majority of all the votes cast is necessary to 
elect. In the event of more than two tickets being 
submitted to the electors, a plurality of votes in 
favor of either would not be sufficient, and a new 
election would have to be called. 

The polls must, in any event, be kept open for 
an entire hour, and, if the presiding officer or a ma- 
jority of those present so elect, for a longer period. 

As soon as may be after the polls are closed, the 
presiding officer and two other persons shall make 
a certificate under their hands and seals setting 
forth particularly the action of the meeting, and 



OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. II 

showing that all things required by the statute 
were carried out. 

(For form of certificate, see No. 2.) 

When the certificate has been signed and sealed 
by the rector, or other presiding officer, and two 
voters selected by him for that purpose, it must 
be acknowledged before a notary public or other 
qualified officer, and recorded with the clerk of the 
county in which such meeting was held. It should, 
although not required by law, be entered by the 
clerk of the vestry in his minutes. 

" The church wardens and vestrymen so elected, 
and their successors in office, of themselves (but if 
there be a rector, then together with the rector of 
such church or congregation) shall form a vestry, 
and shall be the trustees of such church or congre- 
gation ; and they and their successors shall there- 
upon be a body corporate by the name or title ex- 
pressed in such certificate." 

2 Laws of 1868, ch. 803,/. 1801, § 8. 

Their office continues not only until the expira- 
tion of the year for which they are chosen, but also 
until their successors are duly elected. 

When the incorporation shall be complete by re- 
cording the certificate, a certified copy thereof 



12 OF THE INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES. 

should be sent to the bishop of the diocese for his 
approval, which he will indorse thereon. If there 
be a vacancy in the episcopate, then it should be 
forwarded to the Standing Committee of the dio- 
cese, and the approval of a majority of such com- 
mittee indorsed upon it. Upon presenting the cer- 
tificate to the next Convention of the diocese, the 
church is entitled to be received into communion 
therewith, and to be represented at its sessions by 
the rector and by three lay delegates chosen accord- 
ing to the rules of the respective dioceses, in some 
cases by the congregation, but usually by the 
vestry. 



CHAPTER II. 

OF ELECTIONS. 

THE annual elections for church wardens and 
vestrymen shall be held at the time in Easter week 
set forth in the certificate of incorporation, and im- 
mediately after morning service. 

Notice of the election must be given by the rector, 
if there be one, or if there be none, or he be ab- 
sent, by the officiating minister, or by a church 
warden, for two Sundays next previous to the day so 
fixed, in the time of divine service, and must specify 
the place, day, and hour of holding morning service, 
and that the election will take place immediately 
thereafter. 

The qualifications of voters are the same as those 
required of corporators, except that every voter 
must have belonged to such church or congregation 
for an entire year. The obvious purpose of the 
statute is to secure the government and control of 
the temporalities of the corporations formed under 
it to such of its members and supporters as should 
manifest their attachment to its tenets and their in- 



14 OF ELECTIONS. 

terest in its success by their habitual presence and 
countenance, and their habitual contributions to its 
support. Absence from the church, occasioned by 
long-continued sickness, by a protracted foreign 
tour, or similar cause, would not disfranchise a 
member if there was an intention of resuming mem- 
bership upon recovery or at the end of the journey. 
The question, like that applicable to civil elections, 
would depend upon the intention of the elector. 
If it was his intention to sever his membership with 
the parish, his right to vote would doubtless be 
gone; but if it was his purpose to return and re- 
sume his membership, his rights as an elector 
would remain unimpaired. 

Habitual attendance, however, at the services of 
another congregation would seem to be conclusive 
against the right to vote, especially in the case of 
one not contributing habitually to the support of the 
church. 

The election must be holden immediately after 
morning service, and a variance of a few minutes 
from the time specified in the notice would not be 
material. The polls must be kept open for one 
hour, and, in the discretion of the rector, or if re- 
quired by a majority vote of those present, for a 
longer period. 



OF ELECTIONS. 15 

At every election, the rector, if there be one, or 
if there be none, or he be absent, one of the church 
wardens, selected for the purpose by a majority of 
the duly qualified voters present ; or if no warden 
be present, a vestryman (selected in like manner), 
shall preside and receive the votes of the electors, 
and be the returning officer, and shall enter the 
proceedings in the book of minutes of the vestry, 
and sign his name thereto, and offer the same to as 
many electors present as he shall think fit (usually 
two), to be by them also signed and certified. 

The presiding officer has the direction of the 
election, or, in the words of the statute, " receives 
the votes." The meaning of this is that he has the 
general supervision of the election. He appoints 
the tellers, has power to reject an illegal vote, and 
the vote by his direction is counted, and the result 
announced. He also is the returning officer, and 
at the conclusion of the election enters the proceed- 
ings in the book of minutes of the vestry (practi- 
cally, however, this is usually done by the clerk of 
the vestry, by his direction), and asks as many 
electors present as he shall see fit (not less than 

two) to sign it also. 

(See Form No. 4.) 

This certificate is good evidence of the elec- 



l6 OF ELECTIONS. 

tion, although executed many months after it was 

held. 

People v. Peck, n Wend., 604. 

The rector has, of course, the same right to vote 
as any other member of the congregation, he being 
the only judge as to its expediency. 

Should not the vote result in an election, or if, as 
sometimes happens, there is a tie between one or 
more candidates on opposing tickets, at any time 
before the polls are formally closed, another election 
may be had. No voter can be deprived of a vote 
by this course, as it is in his power, and should be 
his duty, to remain until the polls are closed. 

If votes are received by the tellers without chal- 
lenge or objection, they cannot afterward be ques- 
tioned. 

Hartt v. Harvey, 32 Barb., 55. 

Of Vacancies. 

A vacancy in the vestry may be created by the 
death of a warden or vestryman, by his change of 
residence, cum animo manendi, from the place in 
which the church is located, or by his written or 
verbal resignation presented to and accepted by the 
vestry. A resignation presented and read, if it re- 
ceives no formal acceptance, will not avail to create 



OF ELECTIONS. I 7 

a vacancy. The trustee may not relinquish his trust 

without the consent of the vestry. 

Council v. Dutch Ch., etc., 4 Zans., 339 ; 54 N. Y. J?., 551. 

A vacancy in the vestry can only be filled by a 
special election ordered for that purpose by the 
vestry. Notice of it shall be given in the time of 
divine service at least ten days prior thereto. It 
must be holden immediately after morning service, 
and is subject to precisely the same regulations as to 
the mode of conducting it, and the qualifications of 
voters which govern the general annual elections. 



CHAPTER III. 

OF THE VESTRY. 

The vestry consists of the rector, the two war- 
dens and the vestrymen, not less than four nor more 
than eight, as determined at the time of the incor- 
poration of the society. They are the trustees of 
the church or congregation, to whom is confided the 
entire management of its temporalities. 

Their Powers. 

1st. They are authorized to call and induct a 
rector of the church as often as there shall be a 
vacancy therein, and to fix his salary or compensa- 
tion. 

This should always be done by written resolution 
for that purpose, carefully and clearly expressing 
the terms of the relation to be assumed, the amount 
of his salary, and when it shall be payable. The 
clerk should be authorized to transmit it, and the 
proceedings fully entered in the minutes of the ves- 
try. As this is the most important act likely to be 
performed by the governing body, too much care 
cannot be exercised in fully and distinctly expressing 



OF THE VESTRY. 19 

in writing the terms of the call, so that there need 
be thereafter no question on that subject. 

2d. To have and use a common seal, and renew 
and alter the same at pleasure. 

A seal is an impression upon wax, wafer, or some 
other tenacious substance capable of being im- 
pressed, and a common seal is simply one adopted 
by the vestry. They may adopt by resolution and 
make their own any seal whatever, if it be only a 
piece of white paper attached by wafer or mucilage 
to the instrument. But an ordinary scrawl such as 
" L.S." is not sufficient in the State of New York. 

Warren v. Lynch, 5 J. R., 238. 

Not only is it incident to the corporation to have 
a common seal, but it may make or use what seal it 
will. Accordingly it was held in the reign of 
Edward III. that if an abbot and convent sealed 
a writing with the seal of a layman, and it was said 
in the deed " in testimony whereof our common seal 
is affixed," it w r as sufficient ; for they might change 
their common seal when they would. But to bind 
the corporation by deed, the instrument must be 
sealed with a seal which is theirs either originally or 
by adoption. 

Angel and Ames on Corporations, 185. 

Congregation v. Church, 10 How. Pr. R., 484. 



20 OF THE VESTRY. 

In the Southern and Western States, from New 
Jersey inclusive, a nourish with a pen at the end of 
a name or a circle of ink, or a scroll, has been held 
to be a valid substitute for a seal. 

4 Kent's Comm., 445. 

The organization will not be invalidated by the 
accidental loss of the seal required to be attached 
to the certificate of incorporation. Parol proof will 
be competent to show that it was affixed at or prior 
to the execution of the instrument. 

Medan v. Sherard, 73 JV. Y. J?., 323. 

I know of only two cases where the use of a seal 
will be necessary. It must be affixed to the certifi- 
cate of incorporation when an ordinary seal is 
attached after the name of each signer ; and the 
corporate seal will be required should it become 
necessary to convey real estate of the corporation. 

It will be seldom necessary, therefore, to incur 
the expense of a corporate seal. 

3d. To take into their possession and custody all 
the temporalities belonging to such church, whether 
the same consist of real or personal estate, and 
whether the same shall have been given, granted or 
devised directly to such church, or to any other 
person for their use ; and also by their corporate 



OF THE VESTRY. 21 

name (that is, the Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen 
of Church, in the of 

), to sue and be sued in all courts 
of law or equity, and to recover, hold and enjoy 
all debts, demands, rights and privileges, and all 
churches, meeting-houses, parsonages, and burying- 
places, with the appurtenances, and all estates be- 
longing to such church, congregation or society, in 
whatsoever manner the same may have been ac- 
quired, or in whose name soever the same may be 
held, as fully and amply as if the right or title there- 
to had been originally vested in said trustees, and 
to purchase and hold other real estate, and to de- 
mise, lease and improve the same for the use of 
such church, congregation or society. 

But aside from property used exclusively for re- 
ligious purposes, they may not hold more than 
enough to yield an annual income of $6,000.* 

It is needless to say that the property must be 
managed solely for the use and benefit of the church, 
and in accordance with the rites and usages of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. No warden or ves- 
tryman can lawfully derive any pecuniary benefit to 
himself from its management, but the law will re- 

* " But by Laws of 1889, chap. 191, they are authorized to hoH 
property not exceeding in value $2,000,000, and whose yearly income 
does not exceed $100,000." 



22 OF THE VESTRY. 

quire him to act unselfishly, and with an eye single 
to the interests of the parish. The rule emphati- 
cally applies, that " He who acts for another shall 
not in the same matter act for himself." The office 
is purely a trust, to be exercised solely for the pro- 
motion of the interests of religion, as administered 
by the religious body to which the parish belongs. 
Any violation of the trust would be restrained and 
punished by the court. 

4th. They have power to repair and alter their 
churches, to erect others if necessary, to erect rec- 
tories for the use of their ministers, and school- 
houses or other buildings for the use of the society. 

This provision would doubtless authorize the 
erection of guild-houses, of coffee-rooms, and of 
places for the recreation and improvement of the 
young people of the parish. They may exercise a 
wide discretion in this respect, and the courts would 
doubtless sanction any work whereby the usefulness 
of the parish would be promoted and extended. 

5th. They may make rules and orders for manag- 
ing the temporal affairs of the church, dispose of all 
moneys belonging thereto according as the best in- 
terest of the church may require, regulate and order 
the renting of pews, and all other matters relating to 
the temporal concerns and revenues of the church. 

6th. They shall have power to appoint a clerk 



OF THE VESTRY. 23 

and treasurer of their board, and a collector to re- 
ceive and collect their revenues ; to regulate the 
fees to be allowed each of them, and in the absence 
of any definite contract for a specified time, to re- 
move either of them at pleasure. 

Any proceedings to recover or affecting the title 
to real or personal property should be in the name 
of the rector, church wardens and vestrymen of the 
church. To them alone is entrusted the care of the 
temporalities of the parish, and they may even in- 
stitute proceedings to sell the church edifice, with- 
out consulting the members of the congregation. 
Church v. Church, 46 N. Y. B., 131. 

It must always be borne in mind, however, that 
neither the congregation nor vestry has power to 
divert the church property from the dissemination 
of the teachings of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
as defined in the Book of Common Prayer and the 
authorized standards of that body, or employ it in 
conducting any service foreign to its well-settled 
rules and discipline. 

Miller v. Benson, 69 ///., 27. 

D eider ick v. Sampson, 11 Heisk., 523. 

Miller v. Gable, 2 Den., 492. 

Kinkead v. McKee, 9 Barb., 535. 

Isham v. Dunkirk, 63 How. Br., 465. 

Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. } 680. 



24 OF THE VESTRY. 

They cannot sever their connection with the 
church or unite with any other religious organiza- 
tion, or become independent, save at the expense 
of impairing their title to all the trust property. 

Jones v. Wadsworth, n Phila. R., 227. 

Any threatened diversion of the revenues of the 
society, either to maintain a clergyman who has 
been deposed by proper authority, or for any use 
inconsistent with the purpose for which it was orig- 
inally acquired, will be restrained by the courts. 
And any member of the corporation may maintain 
an action for that purpose. 

Church v. Bow den, 14 Abb. N. C, 356. 
/sham v. Tallinger, Id., 363. 

In the State of New York the principle is affirmed 
by statute (Laws of 1876, p. 142, cJi. 176), which 
provides that it shall not be lawful to divert the 
estate, property or revenue of the corporation to 
any purpose " except the support or maintenance 
of any church, or religious or benevolent institution, 
or object connected with the church or denomina- 
tion to which such corporation shall belong." 

But it is equally well settled that the courts will 
not interfere with the constituted authorities of the 
church in matters peculiarly within their jurisdic- 



OF THE VESTRY. 2$ 

tion. Their power is limited to the protection of 
the civil rights of the corporators and corporation, 
and to the preservation of the public peace. As to 
all questions relating to the faith and practice of 
the church and its members, they will refuse to 
interfere, but leave the same to those church judica- 
tures to which the parties have voluntarily sub- 
mitted themselves. They will pass upon them only 
when necessary to determine the rights of property 5 
or other civil rights dependent upon them. 

Gri??ies v. Harmon, 35 Ind., 198. 

So where a clergyman was charged with the of- 
fense of omitting the words " regenerate " and 
" regeneration," in administering the sacrament of 
infant baptism, it was held that the secular courts 
would not inquire whether the omission was an of- 
fense against the laws of the Church. That was 
a question of ecclesiastical cognizance alone. The 
Church should make and construe its own laws, and 
enforce its own discipline. A rector has not such 
a vested right in his office, such a property in the 
right to preach and the emoluments pertaining 
thereto, as wiil authorize the civil courts to inter- 
fere on that ground to restrain an ecclesiastical 
court in his trial for an alleged offense against the 



26 OF THE VESTRY. 

canons and discipline of the Church. The contract 
of employment and for his salary must be construed 
and enforced in reference to the canons which form 
a part of it. If he is suspended, his salary is gone. 

Chase v. Cheney, 58 77/., 509. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OF THE RECTOR. 

THE rector is a constituent part of the vestry, is 
its presiding officer, and no legal meeting can be held 
without his presence, unless he shall himself have 
called it in writing, or unless he has been absent 
from the State at least four months. But in no 
case whatever, during his absence, can any action 
be taken to dispose of the lands of the parish, to 
sell any part of the capital or principal of its per- 
sonal estate, or tending to impair the rights of such 

rector. 

2 J?. S., 1656, § 15. 

In the absence of an express agreement to the 
contrary, the rector is called for life, and is entitled 
to hold the office while he lives, at the salary orig- 
inally promised him, without diminution. His con- 
nection with the parish can only be dissolved either 
by his own voluntary act or his deposition by the 
bishop of the diocese for immoral conduct, or 
teaching inconsistent with his ordination vows. 
The law guards jealously his rights, and will not 



28 OF THE RECTOR. 

permit him to be oppressed, or his salary reduced 
by a factious or discontented congregation. He is 
entitled at all times to enter the church for the 
performance of his duties, and to control its use. 
He may also, like any other individual, sue for and 
recover his salary if not promptly paid to him. 

Ebaugh v. G. R. Church, 3 E. D. S., 60. 

The courts bear in mind the fact that one who 
gives up his life to the work of the ministry, and 
whose thoughts must, exactly in proportion to his 
fidelity to his great work, be withdrawn from secu- 
lar pursuits, needs special protection, and ought not 
to be dependent for a livelihood on the whims and 
prejudices of his congregation. 

The subject was very thoroughly discussed in 
Youngs v. Ransom, 31 Barb,, 49, and the court say : 
" Mr. Ransom was not called, nor did he agree to 
preach to this church for a year, or for any specified 
time, nor at the will of the church or vestry. He 
was called to take charge of the parish as rector, 
and settled as such. It is not, and cannot be de- 
nied, that the rule or regimen of the Episcopal 
Church as to the tenure of its parish ministers is 
that when they have once been placed in charge of 
congregations, they can neither leave nor be dis- 



OF THE RECTOR. 29 

missed, except by mutual consent, without the in- 
tervention of the bishop. Without discussing the 
power to make, or the propriety of, agreements for 
the performance of clerical service, limited in time, 
I think it very clear that when a minister is called 
or settled in an Episcopal parish without any such 
limitation, he can only be dismissed, or sever the 
connection by mutual consent, or by superior 
ecclesiastical authority on the application of one of 
the parties. The 33d Canon of the General Con- 
vention of 1832 is very explicit to this effect." 

I cannot find that the case of Youngs v. Ransom 
has ever been criticised or questioned, and it must 
be held to settle the law, at least in the State of 
New York. 

The vestry cannot indirectly remove their rector 
by a reduction of his salary. 

The point was expressly adjudged in Bird v. St. 
Mark's Church, 62 Iowa Rep., 567. The action was 
brought by the rector of St. Mark's Church, Water- 
loo, to recover the salary originally promised to 
him, which the vestry, by resolution, had sought to 
diminish, and the court says : " The salary upon 
which the plaintiff was employed, constitutes an es- 
sential part of the contract. If the defendant 
could be permitted to reduce the plaintiff's salary 



30 OF THE RECTOR. 

without his consent, it could force him to agree to 
a dissolution of the pastoral relation, and thus ac- 
complish indirectly what it could not do directly. 
The right to the salary stipulated at the time the 
plaintiff accepted the position of rector is a valu- 
able property right secured to the plaintiff by a 
contract. One party to a contract cannot ignore 
its provisions or violate them with impunity." 

To the same effect is Batter soil v. Thompson, 8 
Phila. R., 251. The rights of the rector were also 
maintained by the court in Lynchv.J\Ienzie, 33 N.J. 
Rep. (4 Vroom), 162. In that case the vestry had, 
by fastening the doors of the church edifice and 
school-house, attempted to deprive the rector of 
their use. He brought the action to recover dam- 
ages for the wrong, and a jury awarded him one 
thousand dollars. The appellate court, in affirm- 
ing the judgment, says: "If, then, we adopt the 
theory of the English cases, and I perceive no 
reason for rejecting it, that for the purposes of the 
exercise of his sacerdotal functions, the rector be- 
comes possessed of the church buildings and grounds, 
it will be difficult to devise any pretext in denial of 
the right of such officer to a civil remedy, if such 
possession be invaded. Nor does the right of re- 
dress for an interference with his rights seem less 



OF THE RECTOR. 31 

clear if we adopt the hypothesis that, by force of 
his position, plaintiff was possessed of an easement 
in the premises." 

It would seem to follow that as no man can be 
deprived of a right or subjected to a penalty with- 
out an opportunity to be heard in his own defense, 
if charges are brought against him, they should be 
regularly presented in writing, and before any prej- 
udicial action is had, he should be permitted to 
refute any testimony that may be produced against 
him. That every man is presumed to be innocent 
until proved guilty applies to him with peculiar 
force, and the burden of proof must of course rest 
with the presenters. 

Says Hoffman, page 269: "When the sanction of 
the ecclesiastical authority (he is speaking of the 
dismissal of a clergyman) is sought, a duty is im- 
posed as well as a power conferred. It cannot con- 
cur upon any ex parte statements without an exam- 
ination. The right to be heard is a common-law 
right, and must be observed before any penalty of 
any description can be lawfully inflicted." 

The rector is not only presiding officer at all 
meetings of the vestry, but has a right to vote upon 
all questions there presented. He may have also a 
right in the event of a tie to have the casting vote, 



32 OF THE RECTOR. 

and thus in effect vote twice. The section of the 
act which provides that the rector, or one of the 
church wardens, must preside at every meeting of 
the board, and have the casting vote, is to be con- 
strued as authorizing the chairman, after having 
voted first with the rest, upon a tie occurring, to 
emphasize his vote by repeating it. The very ques- 
tion arose in People v. Rector, etc., 48 Barb., 603. 
There eight vestrymen and two wardens had as- 
sembled for the purpose of calling a rector. Five 
voted in favor of engaging the relator as rector, and 
five, including the presiding officer, voted against 
it. He thereupon declared the resolution to be 
lost. It was held that such declaration amounted 
to a casting vote, the resolution was not carried, 
and hence that the relator was not legally called to 
the rectorship of the church. 

At all elections the rector is both the presiding 
and the returning officer, and his certificate of elec- 
tion is presumptive evidence of the right of the 
party receiving it to hold the office and exercise its 

functions. 

People v. Lacoste, 37 N. Y. P., 192. 

The call of a clergyman is simply a contract, 
which requires only a meeting of minds, the con- 
currence of the vestry on the one part and the min- 



OF THE RECTOR. 33 

ister on the other. No formality or ceremony is 
necessary for that purpose, although for greater 
certainty it is expedient that the action be- in 
writing and entered on the minutes of the vestry. 

The rector has exclusive power over the church 
edifice, as to granting or refusing its use for public 
worship or any other purpose. This follows neces- 
sarily from the nature of the pastoral charge. He 
is called to be a teacher of spiritual things. The 
cure of souls is committed to him, and, as a neces- 
sary result, he alone shall determine to whom such 
trust shall be confided during his absence. By 
Canon 31 of 1832 it is provided that no clergyman 
shall officiate in his parish without his express con- 
sent. Hence the vestry may not interfere with his 
rights in that respect. He has also power to con- 
trol the use of the church at other times and on 
every day. He may forbid it to be used for church 
fairs, for secular entertainments, for lectures, or any 
purpose inconsistent with religious uses. In the 
institution office the keys are delivered to him as a 
symbol of the delivery of the church edifice itself, 
and the inference is irresistible that virtute officii, he 
has absolute control of it. The church is simply an 
instrument of his office, committed to him to conse- 
crate it to the Lord, to offer in it the sacrifice of 
3 



34 OF THE RECTOR. 

praise and thanksgiving, to teach and celebrate in it 
the sacraments of our holy religion. Its direction 
is intrusted to him for that object, and it is his 
duty to see that it is sacredly and exclusively de- 
voted thereto, and kept free from all unhallowed, 
ordinary and common uses. 

The same rule must apply to the other buildings 
used by the church for the instruction of the young, 
for guilds, and other ecclesiastical purposes. 

Hoffman s Law of the Church, 85. 

The direction of the music used in the church is 
committed to the rector. Canon 22 provides : 

"§I. The selection of the psalms in metre and 
the hymns which are set forth by authority, and 
anthems in the words of Holy Scripture, are al- 
lowed to be sung in all congregations of this Church 
before and after Morning and Evening Prayer, and 
also before and after sermons at the discretion of the 
minister, whose duty it shall be, by standing direc- 
tions, or from time to time, to appoint such author- 
ized psalms, hymns, or anthems as are to be sung." 

" § II. It shall be the duty of every minister of 
the Church, with such assistance as he may see fit 
to employ from persons skilled in music, to give 
orders concerning the tunes to be sung at any time 



OF THE RECTOR. 35 

in his church, and especially it shall be his duty to 
suppress all light and unseemly music, and all inde- 
cency and irreverence in the performance by which 
vain and ungodly persons profane the service of the 
sanctuary." 

While the salary and terms of employment of the 
choir belong exclusively to the vestry to determine, 
the direction of the choir belongs to him. He must 
determine as to rehearsals, and as to the character of 
the music. It is simply an auxiliary to his work, and 
therefore must be entirely under his control. It is 
the better opinion that he may select the persons 
composing the choir, and it is certain that any ques- 
tion as to whether it should be a surpliced choir, a 
quartet, or chorus, belongs to him. 

No assistant minister may be called without his 
consent ; while the vestry must be consulted as to 
the necessity or utility of calling an assistant, and 
must decide as to the terms and period of employ- 
ment, the rector must be permitted to determine 
the question who shall be selected as a worthy co- 
adjutor, and fitted to aid him in his most important 
work. There can be but one rector, and it is emi- 
nently proper that he should not be hampered in 
his office by one likely perhaps to mar, impair, or 
destroy his usefulness, and upon that most delicate 



36 OF THE RECTOR. 

of questions he must, in the nature of things, be the 
best and only judge. 

The term " assistant rector," is unknown to the 
common law, although in one single instance, sui 
generis, it appears in a legislative enactment. By 
chapter 120, of the Laws of N. Y. for 1878, provision 
is made for an associate rector of St. Paul's Church, 
Buffalo, by which he was made a member of the 
vestry, and authorized to preside in the absence of 
the rector at meetings of the vestry and at elections. 
He was also empowered to call meetings. But it 
was provided that at those so called no action should 
be taken to dispose of the real estate, to sell per- 
sonal property except to pay debts, or to impair in 
any manner the rights of the rector. 

The fact that a special act was required defining 
his duties would seem to indicate that in all things, 
as the necessity of the case requires, the assistant 
minister is subordinate to the rector, and subject to 
his direction, unless in a special case special legisla- 
tion may be necessary to change the rule. There 
cannot be two chiefs either in the family or in that 
larger family which we call a church. Nor is there 
any law authorizing the assistant minister to act as 
a member of the vestry, or to preside at its meet- 
ings. 



OF THE RECTOR. 37 

His Duty. 

This branch of the subject needs but few words, 
and is best expressed in the office of the ordering 
of priests, in which he promises " so to minister the 
Doctrine and Sacraments, and the Discipline of 
Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this 
Church hath received the same, according to the 
Commandments of God." 

As Hoffman says with great power, " The vow of 
the rector becomes the right of the congregation " 
(page 87). This right is violated if he teaches or 
allows another to teach an anti-trinitarian doctrine, 
or other dogma opposed to the plain teachings of 
the Book of Common Prayer. 

He has no right to leave his congregation against 
their will without the consent of the Bishop, although 
the only penalty incurred by such action is exclu- 
sion from the privileges of the Convention of the 

diocese. 

Title II. , Canon 4. 

It is needless to say that in all spiritual matters 
the rector must, from the very nature of his office, 
have in his parish supreme control. He is not sub- 
ject to the dictation of the vestry, and the supreme 
impropriety on their part of any attempt to influ- 



37^ OF THE RECTOR. 

ence his teaching is too obvious to need comment. 
To him has been committed authority to feed and 
guide the flock entrusted to his care, and his right 
to teach and direct them may not be questioned by 
all or any of the members of his charge. This has 
been the study of his life. To qualify him for it, he 
has received the most careful training, and as well 
might the patient seek to instruct the trained physi- 
cian, or the client his counsel learned in the law. 
Should he urge any doctrine inconsistent with the 
plain teaching of Scripture or the Prayer-Book, it 
would be the duty of the Bishop, upon proper pro- 
ceedings prescribed by the canons of the Church, 
upon complaint duly presented to him, to investi- 
gate the matter. But no one else may assume to 
take action on the subject. To the rector the sacred 
trust has been given by the Church of God to bring 
all committed to his care " into that agreement in 
the faith and knowledge of God, and to that ripe- 
ness and perfectness of age in Christ, that there be 
no place left in them for error in religion or for 
viciousness of life." To this his all has been conse- 
crated, and no man may interfere with the discharge 
of this solemn office and work of a priest in God's 
Church save the Bishop only whom he has vowed 
reverently to obey, " following with a glad mind all 



OF THE RECTOR. 37^ 

his godly admonitions, and submitting to his godly 
judgment." 

It would be well always to remember that to the 
rector has been given authority " to execute the 
office of a Priest in the Church of God," once com- 
mitted to him by the imposition of divinely consti- 
tuted hands, with power "to preach the word of 
God, and to minister the Holy Sacraments in the 
congregation to which he has been lawfully called." 

Would that those who are inclined to criticise or 
oppose their duly appointed pastor might be in- 
duced reverently to read the office " for the order- 
ing of priests " and learn how solemn and important 
is the office committed to his charge, and how thor- 
oughly and entirely it has been entrusted to him. 



CHAPTER V. 

OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 

No legal action of a vestry can be had except at 
a meeting regularly called, or unless all the mem- 
bers of the vestry are present. If every member be 
present, as the only object of the notice is to secure 
such presence, the action of the meeting would 
doubtless be valid, although legal notice was not 
given. Each member of the vestry has a right to be 
consulted as to every proposed measure, and that 
right can only be waived by his failure to attend the 
meeting after being duly notified thereof. 

Constant v. Rector, etc., 4 Daly, 25. 

The Notice. 

No meeting of the vestry shall be held unless at 
least three days' notice thereof shall be given, in 
writing, under the hand of the rector or one of the 
church wardens. This provision, howeverjfedoes not 
apply to the first meeting after an election, when 
more haste is requisite, and twenty-four hours notice 
thereof shall be enough. 



OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 39 

The notice of meetings subsequent to the first 
would not, perhaps, be necessary where the vestry 
have, by a by-law or resolution, fixed the time for 
meetings, as, for instance, the first Monday evening 
of the month. All members of the vestry are 
chargeable with notice of such resolution or by-law. 

Smith v. Lane, 21 N.Y. R., 296. 

It is, however, the better practice if anything of 
moment is contemplated, to give the notice. 

It may be sent by mail, and the law will presume 

its reception by the party to whom it is properly 

addressed. 

Cors v. Otis, 100 N. Y., 446. 

But personal service at least three days before the 
meeting, if an important one, would save any ques- 
tion as to its legality. Should notice be mailed and 
not received, the meeting would not be legal with- 
out the personal presence of the person to whom it 
was addressed. If the person entitled to notice is 
present without it, in that case the purpose of the 
notice is answered, and no question arises on the 
subject. 

A religious body is not bound by the acts of its 
trustees, acting personally, nor by the act of a 
majority of them convened together, unless such 



40 OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 

convention is an authorized official meeting, pur- 
suant to a call addressed to all the trustees. 

United Brethren Ch. v. Van Dusen, 37 Wis., 54. 

St. Patrick's Ch. v. Gavalin, 82 77/., 170. 

Moore v. Rector, 4 Abb. New Cas., 5 1 . 

Bank v. St. Ajithonfs Church, 109 N. Y. B., 512. 

If all the members of the vestry are present, al 
though no notice has been given, and proceed with- 
out objection to the transaction of business, the 
necessity of notice will be waived, and their action 
will be legal. But if any person not notified is ab- 
sent, or, if present, objects to the legality of the 
meeting, all extraordinary proceedings are illegal. 
When some of those entitled to notice are present 
without it, and the others have had due notice, if 
they proceed to business it is a legal waiver of 
notice, the meeting is regular, and its action valid. 
Angel and Ames 011 Corporations, 457. 

The Quorum. 

No such board shall be competent to transact any 
business unless the rector, if there be one, at least 
one of the church wardens, and a majority of the 
vestrymen are present. But if the rector shall have 
been absent, from the State for four calendar months, 
or shall, in writing, have called the meeting and be 
absent, then, a warden and a majority of the vestry- 



OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 41 

men being present, the board may transact any 
business not involving a disposition of the property 
of the corporation, or tending to impair the rights 
of the rector. 

To constitute a legal board there must be present 
the rector, a warden, and a majority of the vestry- 
men, except when the rector shall have been ab- 
sent as above stated. " There are thus three in- 
tegral parts of the body which personally, as in the 
case of the rector, or by representation, as in the 
cases of the wardens and vestrymen, must attend." 

Hoffman, 71. 

The majority of the vestry must be of the entire 
legal number, and not of those actually in office. 
Thus in the event of three of the vestrymen having 
resigned, when their number is eight, five would 
still be necessary to constitute a quorum. 

The statute requiring a majority of the vestry- 
men contemplates a majority of the legal number, 
and not merely of a less number actually in 
office. 

Moore v. Rector, etc., 4 Abb. N. C, 51. 

No legal meeting can be held — 
1st. Where the rector is absent, unless he shall 
himself have called the meeting, or shall have been 



42 OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 

for at least four calendar months absent from the 
State. 

2d. When both wardens are absent. 

3d. If less than a majority of the vestrymen are 
present. 

The Presiding Officer. 

The rector, if there be one, and if not, then the 
church warden present, or if both church wardens 
are present, then the church warden who shall be 
called to the chair by a majority of the votes, shall 
preside. 

Business : How Conducted. 

Each member of the vestry has a right to vote, 
and they are upon an equality of power as to every 
corporate resolution and act, except that the chair- 
man has the casting vote. The vote of a majority 
of the members present will be absolutely control- 
ling. Thus, if five vestrymen, a warden, and the 
rector are present, the united vote of any four of 
them would be sufficient to decide any measure 
proposed. 

No valid act can be performed, not even that of 
adjourning the meeting, except by a majority of 
those present. 

Business transacted at an irregular meeting, if 



OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 43 

subsequently ratified and approved at a meeting 
duly calkd at which a quorum is present, will 
thereby become valid. 

After the meeting has been duly organized, the 
withdrawal of the rector, or of a warden, or of a 
vestryman cannot prevent the completion of busi- 
ness already commenced, or even the transaction of 
new business; otherwise the rector, or warden, or 
vestryman would, by withdrawing, be able to defeat 
the voice of the majority, and in substance hold a 

veto on their action. 

Hoffman, page 77. 

The presiding officer is bound to submit every 
question presented for the consideration of the 
vestry. There can be no doubt of his obligation to 
do so in every case of a proposition properly within 
the province of the vestry to act upon. On the 
other hand, it is equally clear that he is not bound 
to put questions or resolutions to vote tending to 
censure or criminate himself. 

While the vestry may call the rector, they can 
take no action for his dismissal, or, as such, investi- 
gate any charges against him. A clear majority of 
the adult male members of the church must concur 
in asking that the matter be presented to the bishop 
for his consideration. 



44 OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 

A canon on the subject was adopted by the Con- 
vention of 1865, and is as follows: 

" In case a minister who has been regularly in- 
stituted or settled in a parish or church be dismissed 
by such parish or church without the concurrence 
of the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese, the 
vestry, or congregation, of such parish or church 
shall have no right to a representation in the Con- 
vention of the diocese until they shall have made 
such satisfaction as the Convention may require ; 
but the minister thus dismissed shall retain his right 
to a seat in the Convention, subject to the ap- 
proval of the ecclesiastical authority of the dio- 
cese. 

"And no minister shall leave his congregation 
against their will without the consent of the eccle- 
siastical authority aforesaid ; and if he shall leave 
them without such concurrence, he shall not be 
allowed to take his seat in any Convention of this 
Church, or be eligible nnto any church or parish 
until he shall have made such satisfaction as the 
ecclesiastical authorities of the diocese may require ; 
but the vestry, or church shall not thereby be de- 
prived of its right to a representation in the dio- 
cese. 

By Canon 4 of Title II. § 4, it is provided that in 



OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 45 

case of any difference between the minister and 
parish, or vestry, as to severing or continuing the 
relation existing between them, which may not be 
satisfactorily settled by the godly judgment of the 
bishop alone, or which he may decline to consider 
without counsel, the bishop (or if the diocese be 
vacant, any bishop selected by the ecclesiastical 
authority), acting with the advice and consent of 
the Standing Committee of the diocese, or mission- 
ary jurisdiction, or with that of the presbyters of 
the said Standing Committee (if both parties shall 
assent to such limitation in writing), shall be the 
ultimate arbiter and judge, and refusal to accept 
and comply with the arbitration and judgment on 
the part of the minister aforesaid, shall not work 
a continuance of lawful and canonical rectorship or 
settlement beyond the date fixed conditionally or 
otherwise for its termination by such arbitration 
and judgment, should such termination be recom- 
mended and required, but such pastoral connection 
shall, unless otherwise agreed by the parties, cease 
and terminate as therein required. But such refusal 
shall subject the minister so refusing to inhibition 
by the bishop aforesaid from all ministerial offices 
and functions within the diocese, and such refusal 
on the part of a parish shall disqualify it from rep- 



46 OF VESTRY MEETINGS. 

resentation in the Convention until full compliance 
with the judgment. 

This canon, however, applies only to dioceses ap- 
proving it, and having no other regulations on the 
subject. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER THE REAL 
ESTATE OF THE CORPORATION. 

1st. To Sell the Same. 

The vestry may, by order of the court, sell and 
convey the real estate of the corporation. This 
power belongs to the vestry, to whom the corpo- 
rators intrusted the management of the temporalities 
of the church. 

Church v. Church, 46 N. Y. R., 131. 

The conveyance can only be authorized for good 
reasons, showing that the corporation will be bene- 
fited thereby. The court has no power to approve 
a sale for the purpose of closing up the existence 
of the society and distributing its property. The 
trustees have no power to do this, and the court 
cannot enlarge their powers. The court cannot 
approve of any plan for the application of the pro- 
ceeds of the sale of real estate which does not re- 
gard the interests of the society as an organization, 
to continue for the purposes of its creation. 

Wheaton v. Gates, 18 N. Y. R., 395. 



48 OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER REAL ESTATE. 

The weight of authority seems to indicate that 
the vestry may mortgage the property without an 
order of the court for that purpose: 

Manning v. Society, etc., 27 Barb., 52. 
Baptist Society v. Clapp, 18 Barb., 35. 

Still, this right has been questioned, and it would 
probably be safer to apply to the court for author- 
ity to make the mortgage. 

The sale must be authorized by a majority vote 
of the vestry at a meeting regularly called for that 
purpose. 

The petition must 

1st, be addressed to a justice of the Supreme 
Court, or to the County Court of the county in 
which the land sought to be sold is located, and 
entitled as in Form No. 5. 

2d. Must be- in the name of the rector, church 
wardens and vestrymen, or if there be no rector, 
must set forth that fact, and be in the name of the 
church wardens and vestrymen. 

3d. It must aver the incorporation of the society. 

4th. Their ownership of the property; and 

5th. Must set forth the reasons which render a 
sale expedient ; and 

6th. Ask for an order authorizing the sale and 



OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER REAL ESTATE. 49 

directing what disposition shall be made by the 
vestry of the proceeds. 

It may be verified by the rector, or any one else 
cognizant of the facts, and is usually signed by the 
rector, wardens, and vestrymen. The clerk, how- 
ever, or any other suitable person, may by resolu- 
tion be authorized to sign and present the petition 
on behalf of the vestry. The petition in that case 
should state the fact. The court may in its discre- 
tion grant the order, and the deed executed in pur- 
suance thereof should recite the order and the facts 
giving the court jurisdiction to make it. 
(See Forms Nos. 6, 7 and 8 for petition, order, and conveyance.) 

Of the Pews. 

By the laws of 1876, ch. 176, it is provided 
that " the rector, church wardens, and vestrymen 
of any church incorporated under the laws of this 
State shall administer the temporalities thereof, and 
hold and apply the estate and property belonging 
thereto, and the revenues of the same, for the bene- 
fit of such corporation according to the rules and 
usages of the church or denomination to which said 
corporation shall belong, and it shall not be lawful 
to divert such estate, property or revenue to any 
4 



50 OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER REAL ESTATE, 

purpose except the support and maintenance of any 
church or religious or benevolent institution or ob- 
ject connected with the church or denomination to 
which such corporation shall belong." 

" Each and every of the corporations aforesaid 
may receive, use and apply all rents and means de- 
rived from pews of the respective churches, in addi- 
tion to the annual income, limited by any statute 
now in force relating thereto." 

The renting of the pews will be generally con- 
ducted by a committee appointed by the vestry for 
that purpose, and may be verbal if for not more 
than one year, although it would be better if by an 
agreement printed or written for that purpose. The 
following brief form would be sufficient : 

" The vestry of St. Church have leased to 

pew No. — , or — sitting in pew No. — , 

for which he agrees to pay to the treasurer of said 
church $ per annum, payable quarterly in ad- 
vance. Dated . 

Signed by ■ 



Chairman of Committee and Lessee of Pew. 
The leasing, if for a definite time, will be binding 
on the parties for that period, but if no time is ex- 
pressed in the contract, possession of the pew may 
be surrendered at the end of any quarter. 



OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER REAL ESTATE. 5 1 

In some parishes in this State pews have been 
sold to and are owned by individuals, and were gen- 
erally so conveyed subject to the payment of an 
annual assessment or rent, and in some cases with- 
out any condition whatever. 

It is settled by many authorities that the owner 
of a pew has only a usufructuary interest ; that is, 
the right to use it. He may convey it by deed duly 
sealed and acknowledged, but will convey thereby 
only the privilege of occupying it ; his interest does 
not entitle him to an injunction restraining the trus- 
tees from pulling down the edifice and building a 
new one. 

Voorhees v. Church of Amsterdam, 17 Barb., 103. 

The pew owner takes a limited estate, a right to 
use the pew as long as the house may stand, subject 
to the more general right of the corporation in the 
soil and freehold. 

Shaw v. Beveridge, 3 Hill, 26. 

Baptist Ch. v. Witherell, 3 Paige, 302. 

Freleigh v. Piatt, 5 Cowen, 494. 

Haney v. St. Peter s Ch., 2 Ew. Ch, Rep., 608. 

Guy v. Baker, 17 Mass. Rep., 435. 

Perrine v. Levitt, 10 Id., 325. 

If the edifice becomes useless from dilapidation, 



52 OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER REAL ESTATE. 

or is destroyed by fire, or any casualty, the right of 
the pewholder is gone. 

And so, if from decay, or other injury, the house 
has to be rebuilt ; but, if for mere convenience or 
purposes of expediency only, and not from necessity, 
the pew is taken, the owner has a right to indemnity. 

Neither the corporation nor the vestry can, for 
the purposes of mere improvement or embellishment, 
deprive the owner of his property — certainly not 
without compensation. 

If, however, from the condition of the building or 
pew, the latter becomes useless, and it becomes 
necessary to rebuild the pews instead of repairing 
them, it may be done without compensation to the 
owner, and he cannot complain that another plan or " 
arrangement of the pews is adopted. 

It was held in Cooper v. Presbyterian Church, 32 
Barb., 222, in an elaborate opinion by Bockes, J., that 
" a pew owner has no separate or individual prop- 
erty in the timber or materials out of which the 
house, or any of its parts, is composed, but his right 
is that of occupancy of the pew during public wor- 
ship, and this right of occupancy must yield to cir- 
cumstances of necessity, convenience, and expedi- 
ency, growing out of the rights in common of the 
society." 



OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER REAL ESTATE. 53 

"These principles are the plain dictates of nat- 
ural justice and cultivated reason, and are so emi- 
nently just in their application as to seem a neces- 
sary concomitant of church property in our coun- 
try. 

It was held in Bronson v. St. Peter\s Ch., 3 Law 
Rep., 390, that " the pew owner has no claim that 
the relative situation or internal position of the 
church pews will not be changed, nor that the 
church edifice shall remain unaltered." In that case 
a motion was made by certain pew owners for an 
injunction to restrain the corporation from proceed- 
ing with a contemplated alteration which involved 
the demolition of their pews. Judge Maynard de- 
nied the motion, holding that the trustees, acting 
in behalf of the corporation, had the right to make 
alterations under Sec. 4 of our statute, which gives 
them power " to repair and alter their churches 
and meeting-houses, and to erect others if neces- 
sary." 

But it seems equally well settled that if the 
change is made merely for convenience, as if A 
owns the two front pews of the church edifice, and 
the vestry determined to extend the chancel, by 
reason of which improvement he is deprived of his 
pews, that he shall be entitled to indemnity, either by 



54 OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER REAL ESTATE. 

having assigned to him two new pews, or by pecu- 
niary compensation. An action would lie for dam- 
ages under such circumstances, although the court 
would decline to grant an injunction restraining the 
proposed improvement. 

Hoffman s Law of the Churchy 245. 

A pew holder has no such right in the pew, or the 
ground on which it stands, as will prevent the sale 
of the church edifice and soil, if the assent of the 
Supreme Court is obtained. 

A sale or permanent lease of a pew is subject to 
this condition, and the purchaser takes with pre- 
sumptive knowledge of and assent to the same. 

Wheeler v. Gale, 18 N. Y. Rep., 395. 

The pew owner's right in a pew is an incorporeal 
hereditament, it is more than an easement, it is 
connected with the land, and has some of the quali- 
ties of realty. It passes to the heir-at-law. 

3 Kenfs Com., 402. 

It requires a writing under seal to pass the title. 

St. Paul's Ch. v. Ford, 34 Barb., 16. 
First Baptist Ch. v. Bigelow, 16 Wend., 28. 

Owners of pews have an exclusive right to their 



OF THE POWER OF THE VESTRY OVER REAL ESTATE. 55 

possession and occupation for p.irposes of worship. 
The remedy, by an action of trespass, for a disturb- 
ance of the owner in the possession of his pew is, 
therefore, the only appropriate remedy. 

Shaw v. Beveridge, 3 Hill, 260 



CHAPTER VII. 

OF MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

1st. Of Changing the Number of Vestrymen. 

The number of vestrymen cannot be less than 
four nor more than eight, but may be changed to 
any number, between three and nine, by the follow- 
ing action: 

At any regular meeting of the vestry a resolution 
may be adopted to change the number of vestrymen 
to any number within the limit just named. 

At the time notice of the annual election is given ? 
there shall be added to it, as follows: "And at the 
same time a resolution adopted by the vestry of 
this church, at a regular meeting held on the 
day of , 18 , that the number of vestry- 

men thereof be changed from to will be 

submitted to the voters for their adoption or re- 
jection." 

At the time of the election the electors shall vote 
for or against it. If the resolution is adopted by a 
majority of the legal votes, a certificate shall be 
prepared setting forth the adoption of the resolu- 



OF MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 57 

tton by the vestry, that notice was duly given of 
the submission of the same to the electors of the 
church, and that at the time of the election it was 
duly ratified and adopted by a majority or unani- 
mous vote of those present. 

(See Form of certificate No. 12.) 

Such certificate shall be signed by the rector and 
two electors chosen by him for that purpose, who 
shall then acknowledge the same before a notary 
public or other officer authorized to take such ac- 
knowledgment. 

Upon recording the certificate with the Clerk of 
the County wherein the church is located, the pro- 
posed change is effected. 

2d. Of Changing the Name. 

The corporation may, if for any reason its name 
has become incongruous or inconvenient, or in the 
event that the location or character of such corpora- 
tion will be more correctly or effectually designated 
by such change, apply to the Court to alter the 
same. 

The adult male members of the church, at a 
meeting regularly called for that purpose, and of 
which notice ought to be given on two successive 
Sundays prior thereto, may determine, by a major- 



58 OF MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

ity vote, to change the title of the church. The 
resolution should also authorize the rector, clerk, or 
other suitable person to prepare and present to the 
Court a petition for that purpose. 

The person so authorized may thereupon present 
to a judge of the County or of the Supreme Court a 
verified petition setting forth : 

1st. The incorporation of the religious society. 

2d. The facts which render the corporate name 
incongruous or inconvenient, or the proposed name 
more suitable, and also that at a meeting of the cor- 
porators, regularly called for that purpose, a resolu- 
tion was adopted by a majority vote (or unani- 
mously) directing the adoption of a new corporate 
title, and authorizing the petitioner to present the 
matter to the Court. 

Also a prayer that the corporation be allowed to 
change their corporate title and assume a new one. 

The officer to whom the petition is addressed, 
may thereupon grant an order directing the pro- 
posed change, and requiring the order to be in- 
serted once in a newspaper recorded in the County. 

When the order has been entered and published, 
upon filing proof of such publication, together with 
the petition, the corporate title is fully changed. 
(See Forms Nos. 5 and 6.) 



OF MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 59 

3d. Of the Consolidation of Religious Societies. 

Any two religious incorporated societies may 
consolidate and unite as a single corporation — 

1st. At a meeting of the vestry of each church, 
regularly called as required by law, a resolution 
should be adopted by each body authorizing the 
consolidation of the two societies, determining the 
name of the proposed new corporation, the names 
of those who shall be church wardens and vestry- 
men to serve until the next annual election, who 
shall be the rector, and any other terms which may 
be made part of the agreement. 

The agreement may be signed by the rector, 
church wardens, and vestrymen, or by some per- 
son authorized by them to sign it. 

It should then be acknowledged, and presented 
to the Bishop and Standing Committee of the Dio- 
cese for their approval. Upon the agreement 
should be indorsed, " We, the Bishop and Standing 

Committee, of the Diocese of hereby approve 

the within agreement, and consent to the consolida- 
tion therein named, upon the terms therein also 

stated. Dated ." 

This approval should be acknowledged, although 
not absolutely necessary. 

Each of the said corporations may thereupon 



60 OF MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

make its separate petition to the Supreme Court in 
the judicial district in which such corporations are 
situated, for an order for such union and consolida- 
tion ; setting forth in such petition the reason of 
such union and consolidation, the agreement made 
as herein before stated, its presentation to and ap- 
proval by the Bishop and Standing Committee of 
the Diocese, a statement of all its property, real and 
personal, all its debts and liabilities, and the amount 
and sources of its annual income. 

Upon such petition from each of said corporations 
so proposing to be united and consolidated, and 
upon the said agreement, satisfactorily proved or 
certified, the Supreme Court may, in case it shall 
deem it proper, make an order for the union and 
consolidation of such corporations, determining all 
the terms, and conditions, and provisions thereof. 

All parties interested therein may be heard on 
such petition. Any person having an interest, and 
serving notice to that effect on the clerk of the 
vestry, would doubtless be entitled to notice of 
hearing. 

When such order is made and entered according 
to the practice of the Court, the said corporations 
shall be united and consolidated into one corpora- 
tion by the name designated in the order, and it 



OF MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 6l 

shall have all the rights and powers, and be sub- 
ject to all the obligations of religious corporations 
under the act in reference thereto. 

The order should be entered in the office of the 
Clerk of the County where the churches are located, 
and a certified copy entered in the minutes of the 
new vestry. 

And thereupon all the estate, rights, and prop- 
erty of whatsoever nature belonging to either of 
said corporations shall, without further act or deed, 
be vested in and transferred to the new corpora- 
tion as effectually as they were vested in or be- 
longed to the former corporations, and the said 
new corporation shall be liable for all the debts and 
liabilities of the former corporations in the same 
manner and as effectually as if said debts or liabili- 
ties had been incurred by it. 

Laws of 1880, ch. 167. 

(See Forms 10 and 11.) 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

By the Laws of 1876, chap, no, it was provided 
that any " Diocesan Convention, presbytery, classis, 
synod, annual conference, or other governing body 
having jurisdiction over a number of churches, con- 
gregations or societies of any church or religious 
denomination in this State, now or hereafter to be 
constituted or established, and not already incor- 
porated, at any stated meeting thereof, by a plurality 
of voices to elect any number of discreet persons, 
not less than three nor exceeding nine in number, 
as trustees to take charge of the estate and property 
belonging thereto, and to transact all affairs relat- 
ing to the temporalities thereof. The presiding of- 
ficer and clerk of such governing body shall imme- 
diately thereafter certify, under their hands and 
seals, the names of the persons elected trustees as 
aforesaid, in which certificate the name or title by 
which the said trustees and their successors shall be 
known shall be particularly mentioned, which said 
certificate being duly acknowledged by the said 



OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 6$ 

presiding officer and clerk, shall be recorded by the 
Clerk of one of the Counties situated in whole or in 
part within the bounds of the jurisdiction of such 
governing body, or in the book kept for the record 
of religious corporations ; and such trustees and 
their successors shall thereupon, by virtue of this 
act, be a body corporate by the name or title ex- 
pressed in such certificate." 

Powers of Trustees. — " § 2. Such trustees shall 
be capable of taking, for religious, educational and 
charitable purposes, by gift, devise, bequest, grant, 
or purchase, and of holding and disposing of the 
same, any real and personal estate held for the ben- 
efit of any such governing body, or of any parish, 
congregation, society, church, chapel, mission, relig- 
ious, benevolent, charitable or educational institu- 
tion, existing or acting under such governing body 
at the time of their election, or which had then, or 
may thereafter be given for any such purposes, 
provided that the net yearly income received from 
the said property shall not at such time exceed the 
sum of $25,000." 

" § 3* Whenever any church, parish or religious 
society in connection with any such governing body 
shall become extinct, or shall cease to maintain re- 
ligious services therein for two consecutive years, by 



64 OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

reason of the death or removal of its members, or 
for any other cause, it shall be lawful for the trus- 
tees elected by such governing body as aforesaid to 
take possession of the temporalities belonging to 
such extinct church or society, and manage or dis- 
pose of the same, and apply the proceeds thereof 
to any of the objects mentioned in the second sec- 
tion of this act. The governing body to which such 
church or society belongs shall determine when any 
church or society has become extinct, or has ceased 
to maintain religious service lor two consecutive 
years — provided that no church or society having 
more than thirteen resident members shall be de- 
clared extinct unless it has failed for two consecu- 
tive years to maintain religious service therein." 

" § 4. The trustees elected by virtue of this act 
shall hold their offices at the pleasure of the govern- 
ing body by whom they are elected, and all vacan- 
cies shall be filled by such body as they occur." 

2d. Of Trustees of the Parochial Fund. 

The Trustees of the Parochial Fund of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of 
Western New York were incorporated March 26, 
1863, by chapter 59 of the Laws of that year. 

The trustees consist of six laymen holding office 



OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 65 

for three years, of whom two are elected yearly by 
the Convention of the Diocese. The Bishop of the 
Diocese is ex officio a member of the board. 

They are authorized by § 4 of the act to receive 
and hold by deed, conveyance, or last will and 
testament, for the accumulation of the Parochial 
Fund, real and personal estate to such an amount 
that the annual income thereof shall not exceed 
$30,000, to be devoted equally to clerical support 
and the erection of parsonages. 

They are also authorized by chapter 500 of the 
Laws of 1875 " to receive by donations, grant or de- 
vise real or personal property, and take and hold the 
same for the purposes of clerical support, parsonage 
aid in particular parishes, parochial and theological 
schools, and missions in said diocese, for a house or 
place of residence for the bishop of said diocese, or 
for any religious, charitable, or educational institution 
within said diocese, and they shall hold and apply 
the same in strict accordance with the conditions 
annexed to any such donation, grant or devise, if 
not incompatible with the laws of this State ; and 
they may receive such donations, grant, gift, or devise 
when made to take effect upon any specified contin- 
gencies or conditions not repugnant to any law of 
this State ; and in cases where the Bishop of the 

5 



66 OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

Diocese has been heretofore, or shall be hereafter, 
made a testamentary trustee for any of the purposes 
contemplated by this act, he shall have the right to 
surrender the said trust to the trustees, of this fund 
at will, and in case of his not doing so before his 
death, the said testamentary trust shall inure on his 
death to the trustees of this fund, subject to all the 
conditions prescribed by the donor ; but the annual 
income accruing from the property said trustees are 
allowed to hold by this and the 4th sections shall not 
exceed $250,000."* 

A similar body was organized at the creation in 
1868 of the Diocese of Central New York, whose func- 
tions are clearly defined by the admirably drawn Act 
of 1887, chapter 106, as follows: " They shall have 
power to take and receive by gift, grant, devise or 
bequest, any property real or personal, and hold the 
same ; first, in trust and for the use and benefit of any 
congregation or parish which may be incorporated 
and in union with the Convention of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Central New 
York ; or, second, in trust for the assistance or sup- 

* They were also, in 1888, clothed by the Legislature with the 
same powers as those conferred on the Trustees of the Diocese of 
Central New York, by the act hereinafter next quoted. 

Laws of 1888, ch. 308. 



OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 6~J 

port of any such mission or missionaries in said dio- 
cese as may be approved of by the bishop. The 
money or other property so used for missionary pur- 
poses to be expended under the general direction of 
the bishop thereof, or the bishop in council with the 
missionary board of said church in said diocese, or in 
case of vacancy in the bishopric, or an extended ab- 
sence of the bishop, then under the general direction 
of the Standing Committee in said diocese ; or third, 
in trust to assist weak and feeble parishes in said 
diocese to support their ministers and Sunday- 
schools, or to build or repair their church edifices or 
parsonages; and fourth, in trust for the assistance or 
support of any parochial, divinity, or theological 
school, or any scholarship in any such school in said 
diocese which may be approved by the bishop ; or, 
fifth, to institute scholarships in St. John's Military 
School for Boys, which is an incorporated church 
school within said diocese, or otherwise to aid in the 
support of said school, or any successor thereof; 
sixth, for the general use and purposes of the church 
in said diocese in cases where no special or particular 
use or purpose of the gift is attached thereto ; pro- 
vided always that the trustees shall hold and invest 
or apply each fund, or the interest or income thereof, 
in strict accordance with the terms of the trust or 



OS OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

condition attached to it by the gift, grant, devise or 
bequest producing such fund, so that in no case shall 
the property given, granted, devised or bequeathed 
for one purpose or object be applied or used for 
another ; and provided also that the net annual in- 
come of any fund shall not exceed the sum of 
$30,000." 

The act is a model one, and leaves nothing to be 
desired, so far as concerns the clear expression of the 
intention of the framers of the law, and its lucid and 
exact definition of the power and duty of the board. 

A valuable function of the trustees in both dio- 
ceses is to hold church property for the benefit of 
any parish within the respective dioceses, and apply 
the same in strict accordance with the conditions 
annexed, to any such donation, grant, or devise. 

Many vestries have availed themselves of the 
privileges of the act, and have conveyed their prop- 
erty to these boards. The object of the grant is to 
save the property from sacrifice or loss, by reason of 
any indebtedness, which may have been incurred by 
the improvident action of vestries. 

The trustees may doubtless hold it free and clear 
from any indebtedness incurred after its conveyance. 
But as to existing creditors, it would seem that it 
could be granted only subject to the payment of 
their claims, and, as to them, must be presumed 



OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 69 

fraudulent, and liable to be set aside upon action 
instituted for that purpose. 

Cole v. Tyler, 65 N. Y. R. y 73. 

The conveyance to the trustees should define 
carefully the conditions on which the property shall 
be held, and especially what disposition shall be 
made of it in the event that the congregation shall 
become extinct or depart from the usages or doctrine 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

Conveyance to Trustees in the Diocese of 
Western New York. 

By the laws of 1884, ch. 125, it is provided that 
after a resolution shall be passed by the vestry 
authorizing a conveyance or transfer of the real or 
personal property of the society to the " Trustees of 
the Parochial Fund of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the Diocese of Western New York," they 
shall call a meeting of the persons entitled to vote 
for church wardens and vestrymen of such society, 
to be held at the usual place of public worship of the 
congregation of such society, on some week day not 
less than twenty nor more than thirty days thereafter. 

How the Meeting is Called. 
Such meeting shall be called by posting a notice 
thereof, in a conspicuous place, on the outer door of 



70 OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

such usual place of worship, at least twenty days 
before the day of such meeting; which notice shall 
specify the object of such meeting, and the time and 
place thereof, and shall contain a copy of the afore- 
said resolution of the vestry. 

A copy of such notice shall be publicly read in 
the time of morning service, on two Sundays next 
previous to the day of such meeting, by the rector 
or officiating minister, or, if there be none, by any 
member of the vestry of such religious society. 
(For form of notice, see No. 15.) 

Election — How conducted. — The election is 
conducted precisely in the same manner as the annual 
election for wardens and vestrymen, with two ex- 
ceptions : 1st. At such meeting the only question 
submitted to the electors is*" Shall the resolution of 
the vestry be approved ? " which shall be decided by 
the voters by ballot, and by a majority of the votes 
cast, the ballots being inscribed either " for the 
resolution of the vestry " or " against the resolution 
of the vestry ; " and 2d. That the entry of the pro- 
ceedings on the minutes of the vestry shall be sub- 
scribed by the presiding officer and three others of 
the electors present. 



OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 7 1 

Certificate of Result. 

In case a majority of the votes cast at such meet- 
ing shall be in the affirmative on said question, the 
presiding officer, together with not less than three 
others of the voters present, shall make a certificate 
under their hands and seals, stating that such meet- 
ing was duly held, the time and place of holding the 
same, the name of the presiding officer, and that 
such meeting was held in pursuance of the notice 
by which the same shall have been called as herein- 
before provided ; and a copy of such notice shall 
be incorporated in such certificate. Such certificate 
shall also state the whole number of ballots cast at 
such meeting; what number of them was cast " for 
the resolution of the vestry," and what number was 
cast " against the resolution of the vestry." The 
said certificate shall be duly acknowledged by each 
of the persons subscribing the same, or its execution 
shall be duly proved before some officer authorized 
to take the acknowledgment or proof of deeds of 
real estate, and shall be recorded in the office of the 
Clerk of the County in which such meetings shall 
have been held. 

(For form of certificate, see No. 16.) 
Such certificate, or a duly certified copy thereof, 



72 OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

shall be presumptive evidence of the truth of all 
matters therein stated. 

When the certificate shall be recorded as afore- 
said, and a certified copy delivered to one of the 
vestry, it shall be the duty of the vestry to cause the 
property named in the certificate to be conveyed or 
transferred to the Trustees of the Parochial Fund 

aforesaid. 

(For form of deed, see No. 17.) 

The property is to be held by such trustees 
solely in trust for the use and benefit of the re- 
ligious society making the conveyance or transfer ; 
and shall not, therefore, be liable for any debt, ob- 
ligation or liability of the society. 

Power of Supreme Court to Order Sale. 

After one year from the time of the transfer or 
conveyance, the Supreme Court may, upon the ap- 
plication of the society made at any special term of 
said Court, order a sale by said trustees of such 
property, and direct the application of the proceeds 
of such sale as shall be most for the interest of such 
society. 

Application — How Made. 

Such application shall be made upon the proof to 
the Court that the same has been authorized and 



OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 73 

directed by a vote of a majority of the vestry of 
such society for whose benefit said property is held 
in trust, duly entered upon the minutes at a regu- 
lar meeting thereof, and that such vote and author- 
ization of said vestry has been approved and con- 
firmed by a vote of not less than two-thirds of all 
such persons belonging to said society who shall 
attend the meeting as hereinafter provided who are 
lawful voters not only, but who shall have paid 
not less than ten dollars during the preceding 
twelve months to the support of such society. 
The meeting shall be called and conducted, and a 
record of its proceedings kept, and a certificate 
thereof made and recorded in the same manner as* 
was required for the transfer and conveyance of 
such property to said trustees. 

(For form of petition and order, see Nos. 18 and 19.) 

Section 9 provides that " the said certificate 
when recorded as aforesaid, or a certified copy 
thereof, under the hand and seal of said County 
Clerk, shall be delivered to one of the members of 
the Trustees of the Parochial Fund, and it shall 
thereupon be the duty of the said trustees to con- 
vey and transfer the property, real and personal, so 
held by them in trust, and to apply the proceeds 



74 OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

thereof pursuant to and in compliance with the 
terms and directions of the order of the Court made 
in reference thereto." 

While the statute does not in terms require it, 
it seems necessarily to follow that a certified copy 
of the order of the Court should be served at the 
same time on the trustees, as that is their only 
source of information as to the terms and con- 
ditions of the sale. 

The Board of Missions of the Diocese of 

Albany. 

By chapter XIII. of the Laws of 1880 was in- 
corporated " The Board of Missions of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Albany," 
with power to take, hold, and convey such estate, 
real and personal, as maybe necessary or convenient 
for the purposes of said corporation, provided the 
yearly value or income of the same shall not ex- 
ceed the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. 

By section 2 of the act, the objects of the asso- 
ciation are defined as follows: " The objects of the 
said corooration shall be educational, charitable 
and religious, and also the control, care and man- 
agement of the property and funds now provided, 
together with such property and funds as may be 



OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 75 

hereafter provided, contributed to, or acquired by 
said corporation by purchase, gift, grant, devise or 
bequest, in trust or otherwise, and any accumula- 
tions thereof, for the organization, establishment 
and support of missions of said church in the Dio- 
cese of Albany. And also to take and hold prop- 
erty in manner aforesaid, both real and personal, 
which is or may be used or designed or intended to 
be used for the erection, maintenance, support, and 
care of Protestant Episcopal churches, parsonages, 
burial places, orphanages, missions, homes, halls, 
asylums, or other diocesan institutions or purposes 
in the said diocese, to the end that the same may 
be set apart, maintained and devoted in perpetuity 
or otherwise to the uses, purposes, and objects in^ 
tended, and to take and hold, in manner aforesaid^ 
any and all such property, both real and personal, 
as shall or may be conveyed to said corporation, or 
intended so to be, and to apply the same for any of 
the objects aforesaid ; and to lease, convey, and 
dispose of the same, in accordance with any trust 
committed to it. And the said corporation may 
act as trustee in respect to any gift, grant, devise or 
bequest pertaining to the objects and purposes 
herein named, or either of them. And gifts, grants 
devises, and bequests, of both real and personal 



76 OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 

property, may be made directly to the said corpo- 
ration, or in trust to the same for any of the uses 
and purposes aforesaid." 

The Board consists of the bishop, who is ex officio 
the president thereof, and of five clergymen and 
five laymen, usually elected by the Convention of 
the Diocese, who have power to fill any vacancy in 
their number, not occurring during a session of 
such Convention. The Board is also subject to the 
directions and must conform to the instructions of 
the Convention, if communicated in writing and 
entered on the journal of that body. 

# 

The Trustees of the Estate Belonging to the 
Diocese of Long Island. 

The Bishop and Standing Committee, by an act 
passed April 26, 1887, were incorporated under the 
above title, and by a law enacted May 17, 1872, 
were empowered " to take by grant, conveyance, 
devise or bequest, any estate, real or personal, upon 
trust for any church, society, or congregation be- 
longing to the Protestant Episcopal Church in said 
Diocese, and hold, manage, transfer and convey the 
same for the uses and purposes of said church, so- 
ciety, or congregation ; provided, however, that so 



OF DIOCESAN TRUSTEES. 77 

long as the title to any such property shall be 
vested in such corporation, the same shall be held 
and used only in conforming with the canons, rules, 
regulations, and usages of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in said Diocese." 



CHAPTER IX. 

OF TAXATION. 

" EVERY building for public worship, every school- 
house and the several lots on which the same are 
situated, shall be exempt from taxation." 

2 Rev. S. Banks & Bros., 7 Ed., 982. 

The term taxation as used above applies only to 
the general city and county taxes ; assessments for 
local improvements, whereby the church property is 
benefited and enhanced in value, may be made, and 
will become a lien upon it in the same manner and 
to the same extent as upon individual property. 

A building used on Sundays for religious worship, 
and on week days when required, but on other days 
for public amusement and pecuniary profit, is not 
exempt from taxation. 
In re Camp-meeting Ass 'n, 2 New England Rep., 915. 

If the legal title to the property used by the cor- 
poration for public worship is in another, although 
employed for religious purposes only, it is liable to 

be taxed. 

People v. Anderson, 4 West Rep., 142. 



OF TAXATION. 79 

The reason of the rule which subjects religious 
societies to taxation for local improvements is 
stated by Judge Breeze in McLea7i Co. agt. Bloom- 
ington, 106 ///. Rep., 209, as follows: " All the cases 
decided by this Court, so far as we have examined, 
hold that these special assessments are not taxes, 
for the reason, as plainly appears from the opinions 
delivered, that when laid in the ratio of benefit they 
are not burdens. 

" It is this element which has reconciled the 
Court to their imposition, and induced the Court to 
range the power to make them under the power of 
eminent domain, the just compensation being the 
benefits flowing to the property from the improve- 
ments, and which are required to be estimated 
together with the damages. Nor can a case be 
found decided by this Court on principle variant 
from this, the equation of benefit and burden form- 
ing the groundwork of them all." 

Chicago v. Union, 3 West Rep., 97. 
People v. Mayor, etc., 2 Hun, 433. 

Not only the church edifice, but, as incident 
thereto, a rectory, guild-house, or any other build- 
ing used exclusively for the purposes of the church, 
will not be subject to taxation. 

The exemption from taxation of the lot on which 



80 OF TAXATION. 

the buildings are situated is not affected by the 
fact that a highway divides the lot wholly used for 
the same purposes into two portions, on one of 
which only the buildings are located. 

People v. The Comm., etc., 10 Hun, 246. 

In that case 103 acres used by the Academy of 
the Sacred Heart, although divided by a highway, 
and the buildings were all on one portion of it, was 
held to be exempt. 

The size of the lot used in connection with the 
church is immaterial. The only question is, is it 
used exclusively for church purposes ? 

The exemption is absolute, and no discretion 
is given to the assessors to pass upon it. 
Temple Grove Seminary v. Cramer, 10 Abb, JV. C, 424. 

Lands set apart for the erection of a church are 
not exempt until the building is actually com- 
menced. " The law," says Judge Roosevelt, " to 
warrant this claim of privilege, requires an actual 
building — a house made with hands — not eternal in 
the heavens, but temporal, situated on temporal 
lots, resting not on intention, however pious or 
praiseworthy, but on solid, sublunary earth." 

Trinity Church v. Mayor, 10 How. Pr., 138. 

The personal property of every minister of the 



OF TAXATION. 8l 

gospel is exempt from taxation ; also his real estate, 

provided that such real and personal estate does 

not exceed $1,500. 

2 Rev. St., 982. 

The entire amount of the exemption for both 
realty and personalty is limited to that amount, 
and any property of whatever kind owned by a 
clergyman in addition to $1,500 is subject to tax- 
ation. 

A priest, or minister of the gospel, to sustain an 
action against the assessors for assessing him, must 
not only show that he was such, but that the prop- 
erty assessed was within the exemption, i.e., that 
the value of both his real and personal property did 
not exceed $1,500. He is liable to be taxed for the 

excess. 

Prosserv. Secor, 5 Barb., 607. 

Regularly ordained clergymen are exempt from 
taxation irrespective of the question whether they 
are actually engaged in their calling. 

Opin. Atfys Gen., 1845, p. 147. 
But a minister or priest who has wholly aban- 
doned the duties of his vocation, and engaged in 
secular pursuits, is liable to taxation, although he 
holds a license to preach. 

Barhyte v. Shepherd, 35 N. Y. R., 238. 



82 OF TAXATION. 

But if there is any question on the subject, the 

assessors act judicially, and their decision will not 

be reviewed. 

Id. 

It is well settled that supernumerary or super- 
annuated clergymen, not engaged in worldly busi- 
ness, who, from age or poor health, are unable to 
do effective service, are entitled to the exemption. 

Licentiates, or those not regularly ordained, are 

not exempt. 

Opin. Atfys Gen., 148. 

Parishes in the State of New York are subject to 
the collateral inheritance tax prescribed by chap. 
713, Laws of 1887, which requires the payment to 
the County Treasurer of 5 per cent, on all moneys 
bequeathed or property given by will to the corpor- 
ation. 

Catlin v. Trinity College, 113 N. Y. R., 133. 



CHAPTER X. 

OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

The Constitution of the State of New York pro- 
vides that the free exercise and enjoyment of relig- 
ious profession and worship, without discrimination 
or preference, shall forever be allowed in this State 

to all mankind. 

Article I, § 3. 

The principle is eloquently asserted in the Con- 
stitution of the State of Massachusetts, which de- 
clares that " it is the right as well as duty of men in 
society publicly and at stated seasons to wor- 
ship the Supreme Being, the great Creator of the 
Universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested 
or restrained in his person, liberty or estate for 
worshiping God in the manner and season most 
agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, or 
for his religious profession or sentiments, provided 
he doth not disturb the public peace or obstruct 
others in their religious worship/' 

Bill of Rights, Art. 2. 

This provision is enforced by the Penal Code of 



84 OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

New York, which prescribes (§ 272) that an attempt 
by means of threats or violence to compel any per- 
son to adopt, practice, or profess a particular form 
of religious belief is a misdemeanor. 

Section 273 provides that a person who willfully 
prevents, by threats or violence, another person 
from performing any lawful act enjoined upon or 
recommended to such person by the religion which 
he professes, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Section 274 declares that whoever willfully dis- 
turbs, interrupts, or disquiets any assemblage of 
people met for religious worship, by any of the acts 
enumerated in the next section, is guilty of a mis- 
demeanor. 

The offense is denned by § 275, as follows: 

" 1st. Uttering any profane discourse, committing 
any rude or indecent act, or making any unneces- 
sary noise, either within the place where such meet- 
ing is held or so near it as to disturb the order and 
solemnity of the meeting. 

" 2d. Engaging in or promoting within two miles 
of the place where a religious meeting is held, any 
racing of animals, or gaming of any description. 

" 3d. Obstructing, in any manner, without author- 
ity of law, within the like distance, free passage 
along a highway to the place of such meeting." 



OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 85 

Where a question of doubt exists as to the legal 
rights of rival claimants to the trusteeship of the 
property of a religious corporation, the claimants 
who have been in recognized possession will be sus- 
tained by injunction to prevent disorderly interfer- 
ence by their opponents until the legal right may 
be settled by an action, brought by the attorney- 
general in the name of the people. 

Rets v. Rohde, 34 Hun, 161. 

A person who disturbs public worship may be re- 
moved by the use of force sufficient for that purpose. 
No action will lie against the party ejecting him 
unless he has been guilty of using unnecessary vio- 
lence. 

Hall v. Lee, 34 N. Y. R., 141. 

The officers of the church may remove him 
(Beckett v. Lawrence, 17 Abb., N. S., 403), or the 
priest, and it is not necessary that the disturbance 
be willful in order to justify the ejection. If the 
person is guilty of disturbing the meeting and 
interrupting its order and decorum, then the appli- 
cation of such force as may be necessary to remove 
him may be justified. 

Says Davis, J., in Hall v. Lee, supra: " I think 
there was also error in that part of the charge which 



86 OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

instructed the jury that the minister or priest had 
no greater right to use force than any other member 
of the congregation. In one sense, perhaps, this 
may be correct, namely, that any other member has 
equal right with the minister or priest to use force 
in removing a disturber of the peace and order of 
the meeting. But usage and custom have made it 
peculiarly the duty of the minister or priest to con- 
duct the services of religious meetings ; to preside 
over them, to preserve order therein, and act as the 
organ or spokesman of the congregation. * * * 
It is most appropriate that the minister or priest 
should preserve order and rebuke all violations of 
it. As the acknowledged presiding officer of the 
meeting, it is his duty to check all attempts to in- 
terrupt its order, quietness, and solemnity, and for 
this purpose he unquestionably has full power and 
authority to call upon others to aid him, or direct 
them to remove the offender. In this sense, there- 
fore, he has a greater right to enforce order than 
any other member of the congregation." 

And the intruder or disturber may be removed 
although religious services are not in actual progress. 

The vestry in a free church may determine what 
pews or sittings shall be occupied by members of 
the congregation, and have the right to enforce the 



OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 87 

same. They may request any person to vacate a 
particular seat, and have a legal right, however in- 
decorous its exercise might be, to use sufficient force 

for that purpose. 

Sheldon v. Vail, 28 Hun, 354. 

A regulation prohibiting a person from leaving a 
church during divine service is unlawful, and maybe 
disregarded. 

People v. Brown, 1 Wh. Cr. Cas. } 124. 



CHAPTER XI. 

OF MARRIAGE, AND THE RECTOR'S DUTY IN 
CONNECTION THEREWITH. 

By the law of the Church, Canon 13 of Title 2, 
§2, it is provided that "no minister knowingly, 
after due inquiry, shall solemnize the marriage of 
any person who has a divorced husband or wife still 
living, if such husband or wife has been put away 
for any cause arising after marriage ; but this Canon 
shall not be held to apply to the innocent party in 
a divorce for the cause of adultery, or to parties 
once divorced seeking to be united again." 

But the civil law, while it commits to every or- 
dained clergyman the right to perform the ceremony 
of marriage, also imposes upon him certain duties, 
and requires — 

1st. That the ceremony shall be according to 
the forms and customs of the church or society to 
which he belongs. 

3 JZ. S. Banks & Bro., 7 Ed., 2332. 

2d. It shall be his duty to ascertain, 1st. The 
Christian and surnames of the parties, their respec- 



OF MARRIAGE — THE RECTOR'S DUTY. 89 

tive places of residence, and that they are of suffi- 
cient age to be capable in law of contracting mar- 
riage. 2d. The names and places of residence of 
two of the attesting witnesses if more than one be 
present, and if not, the name and place of residence 
of such witness. 

He shall enter the facts so ascertained, and the 
day on which such marriage is solemnized, in a book 
to be kept by him for that purpose. 

3 R- Si 2333. 

It need not be said that the clergyman owes no 
higher duty to the Church or the community than 
to be careful how he unites in an irrevocable bond 
parties who apply to him for that purpose unaccom- 
panied by their parents or guardians. 

It is his duty, unless their circumstances and posi- 
tion, character, and fitness to marry are well known 
to him, to make the most careful inquiries on the 
subject. 

By the Laws of 1873, ch. 25, it is enacted that "if 
either of the parties is not personally known to him, 
he shall ascertain from the respective parties their 
right to contract marriage, and for that purpose he 
may examine the parties, or either of them, or any 
other person under oath, which he is hereby author- 



90 OF MARRIAGE — THE RECTOR S DUTY. 

ized to administer, which examination shall be re- 
duced to writing and subscribed by the parties ; and 
either of the respective parties making a false state- 
ment under this oath shall be deemed guilty of will- 
ful and corrupt perjury, and shall be liable there- 
for." 

(For form of deposition, see No. 14.) 

§ 12. " Every minister or magistrate who shall 
solemnize a marriage where either of the parties 
within his knowledge shall be under the age of legal 
consent, or an idiot or lunatic ; or to which within 
his knowledge any legal impediment exists, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by fine or 
imprisonment, or both, in the discretion of the court 
by which he shall be tried." 

§ 13. Whenever a marriage shall have been sol- 
emnized within this State pursuant to this title, the 
minister or magistrate by whom the marriage was 
solemnized shall furnish, on request, to either party 
a certificate specifying — 

1st. The names and places of residence of the par- 
ties married, and that they were known to such min- 
ister or magistrate, or were satisfactorily proved by 
the oath of the parties themselves, or of a person 
known to him, that they were the persons described 



OF MARRIAGE — THE RECTOR'S DUTY. 91 

in said certificate, and that they were of sufficient 
age to contract marriage. 

2d. The name and place of residence of the attest- 
ing witness or witnesses. 

3d. The time and place of contracting such mar- 
riage. 

The certificate shall also state that after due in- 
quiry made there appears no lawful impediment to 
such marriage, and it shall be signed by the person 
making it. 

(For form of certificate, see 13.) 

An original certificate of a marriage within the 

State made by the minister or magistrate by whom 

it was solemnized ; the original entry thereof made 

pursuant to law in the office of the Clerk of a city or 

town within the State, or a copy of the certificate, 

or of the entry duly, certified, is presumptive evidence 

of the marriage. 

Code Civ. Pro. y § 928. 

There is no statute fixing the age at which par- 
ties may lawfully marry in this State. The common 
law rule is thus stated by Chancellor Kent, in 2 Cotntn., 
78 : " No persons are capable of binding themselves 
in marriage until they have arrived at the age of con- 
sent, which by the common law of the land is fixed 



92 OF MARRIAGE — THE RECTOR'S DUTY. 

at fourteen in males and twelve in females. The 
law supposes that the parties at that age have suffi- 
cient discretion for such a contract, and they can 
then bind themselves irrevocably, and cannot after- 
ward be permitted to plead even their egregious in- 
discretion, however distressing the result of it may 
be. 

It has been questioned, however, if this rule 
has not been changed by the Penal Code, which 
provides (§ 282) that a person who takes a female 
under the age of sixteen years, without the consent 
of her mother, father, guardian, or other person hav- 
ing legal charge of her person, for the purpose of 
marriage, is guilty of abduction, and punishable by 
imprisonment for not more than five years, or by a 
fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or both. 

It is certain that the clergyman should decline to 
marry a woman under that age unless accompanied 
by her parents or guardian, as otherwise he may be- 
come involved in serious complications. 

Moot v. Moot, 37 Hun, 238. 

But as to the fitness of the groom for marriage, if 
over the age of fourteen years, he must exercise a 
sound discretion, as there is no law forbidding such 
marriage. 



OF MARRIAGE — THE RECTOR S DUTY. 92^ 

It would seem to be beyond question that as the 
solemnizing of marriage is an act of public worship, 
evidenced by the reading of God's word and prayer, 
and in large portions of Christendom considered a 
sacrament, it may, like any other act of devotion, 
be celebrated on the Lord's day. 

It would be hardly necessary to give utterance 
to such an opinion, had not certain newspapers in 
Pennsylvania confidently asserted that marriages on 
Sunday are wholly invalid. 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

(FORM NO. i.) 

NOTICE OF MEETING TO INCORPORATE SOCIETY. 

Notice is hereby given that a meeting of the male persons 
of full age belonging to this church will be held on the — 

day of , 1 8— , at — o'clock, in the noon, in this place, 

for the purpose of incorporating themselves under the acts of 
the Legislature in such case made and provided; and to deter- 
mine the name and title by which such church shall be known 
in law ; on what day in Easter week an annual election for 
church wardens and vestrymen shall thereafter take place ; 
what number of vestrymen, not less than four or more than 
eight, shall annually be elected to constitute, together with the 
rector, if there be one, and the two church wardens, the ves- 
try of the church ; and by a majority of votes to elect two 
church wardens and the number of vestrymen determined to 
be annually elected to serve until the next annual election. 



(FORM NO. 2.) 

. CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION. 

To all to whom these presents may come, greeting : Know 
ye that we whose names are hereto subscribed do hereby cer- 
tify: That on the — day of , 18 — , in pursuance of no- 



94 SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS, 

tice for that purpose duly given, male persons of full age ex- 
ceeding six in number belonging to the church or congrega- 
tion, worshipping in , in the city of , county of , 

and State of New York, and in communion with the Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church, not before incorporated, met at their 
said place of public worship for the purpose of incorporating 
themselves under the laws of the Legislature of the State of 
New York in such case provided, and doing the other acts 
therein directed to be done. 

That the subscriber, the Rev. , rector of such church (or 

, a church warden, or a vestryman of such church, there 

being no rector), was called to the chair, and presided and re- 
ceived the votes. 

That at such meeting and having received a ma- 
jority of the legal votes cast for that purpose, were duly 
elected church wardens, and {insert, giving full names) were 
by a like majority of votes duly elected vestrymen. 

That it was determined at such meeting, that the number of 

vestrymen to be annually elected should be , and that the 

name or title by which such church or congregation should be 
known at law should be The . 

In testimony whereof, I, , the said presiding officer, at 

said meeting, and we, and , electors, present during 

the same, have hereunto set our hands and seals the — day of 
, 1 8-. 

State of New York, Monroe Co. [ss.] 

On this — day of , 18 — , before me, the subscriber, 

personally appeared and and , to me known to 

be the same persons described in and who executed the forego- 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 95 

ing certificate, and severally acknowledged that they executed 
the same. 

(The original must be recorded in the office of the Clerk of 
the County wherein the church is located, and a copy should 
be entered in the book of minutes of the vestry.) 



(FORM NO. 3.) 

NOTICE OF SUBSEQUENT ELECTION. 

Notice is hereby given that an election for church wardens 
and vestrymen of this church will be held in the Sunday- 
school room (or other suitable place), on the — day of , 

18 — , immediately after morning service, which will be held at 
— o'clock, A.M., the polls to remain open one hour, or 
longer if required. 



(FORM NO. 4.) 

St. Church, Easter Monday, 188-. 

At a meeting of the electors of said church, of which notice 
was duly given, according to law, held at the place above 
named, on Easter Monday, 18 — , at 9.30 A.M., to elect wardens 

and vestrymen, I, the rector, Rev. Dr. , (or , one 

of the wardens of said church,) presided at such meeting, and 
received said vote ; that the polls were kept open for one hour; 
that the following named persons, having received a majority 
of all the votes cast, were declared duly elected wardens and 
vestrymen for the ensuing year : 

For wardens {insert full names). 

For vestrymen {insert full names). 



96 SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

In witness whereof, I, , the presiding officer, and , 

and , electors present at said election, have hereunto set 

our hands the — day and year first above written. 

(The form for filling a vacancy is, with obvious changes, the 
same.) 



(FORM NO. 5.) 

PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME. 

As the County Court is always open, it may be more con- 
venient to apply to that tribunal. 

Monroe County Court : 



In the matter of the petition of the Rector, 
Church Wardens, and Vestrymen of St. 
Mark's Church, for permission to change 
the name of said corporation. 



To the Judge of said CourJ : 

The petition of the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen 
aforesaid respectfully shows that your petitioners are a corpo- 
ration duly incorporated under and by virtue of the laws of 
the State, in communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in the United States of America, and as such corporation 
located in the city of . 

That there is another religious body connected with the 
German Lutheran Church bearing the same name, which has 
also a place of worship in said city ; that by reason of such 
similarity of names, the title of your petitioner has become in- 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 97 

convenient by reason of said churches being mistaken one for 
another. 

That at a meeting of the duly qualified electors of said St. 
Mark's Episcopal Church, duly called for that purpose, and held 

at , on the — day of , 18 — , a resolution reciting the 

expediency of changing the name aforesaid to the Rector, 
Wardens, and Vestrymen of St. Matthew's Church, in the city 

of , was unanimously adopted, and the Rev. , rector 

of said church, was authorised and directed to present a petition 
for that purpose to this honorable Court. 

Your petitioners therefore pray that they may, by an order 
of the Court, be permitted to assume the corporate name of 
the Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestrymen of St. Matthew's 
Church in the city of . 

Dated, . 

State of New York, County, ss. : 

, being duly sworn, says that he is the Rector of St. 

Mark's Episcopal Church in the City of , in said county ; 

that he has read the foregoing petition, and that the same is in 
all respects true. 

Sworn to before me this — day of , 18 — . 



(FORM NO. 6.) 

At a term of the County Court, held at the Court House 

in the city of , in said county, on the — day of , 18 — . 

Present, Hon. , Judge of said Court. 

In the matter of (etc., as in petition). 

Upon reading and filing the petition of , Rector of said 

7 



98 SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

Church, whereby it appears that the same is a corporation 
duly incorporated under and by virtue of the laws of this State, 
that the said corporate name has become and is inconvenient 
(or other reason) : 

Now therefore, on motion of , Attorney for said corpora- 
tion, it is hereby ordered that upon compliance with the provi- 
sions of the Revised Statutes, and of Chapter 323 of the Laws of 
1853, and of Chapter 464 of the Laws of 1847, the said corpora- 
tion be authorized to assume the name of the Rector, Church 
Wardens and Vestrymen of St. Matthew's Church in the City 

of , and from and after the — day of next, be known 

by such new and assumed name, and no other. 

And it is further ordered that this order be printed once 
in the , a newspaper published in said city. 

(The order must be published, within ten days after it is 
granted, in a public newspaper of the county in which the 
church is located (one insertion will be enough), and within 
twenty days thereafter the petition, affidavit, order, and proof 
of its publication filed and recorded in the office of the Clerk of 
the County wherein the Church is located.) 



(FORM NO. 7.) 
petition for sale of lands. 
Monroe County Court : 



In the matter of the petition of the Rector, 
Church Wardens and Vestrymen of St. 

Church, Rochester, for leave to sell 

real estate. 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 99 

The petition of , of Rochester aforesaid, respectfully 

shows that your petitioner is Clerk of the Vestry of said Church ; 

that on or about the — day of , 18 — , said Rector, Church 

Wardens and Vestrymen were duly incorporated as a religious 
corporation under the name aforesaid ; that on or about the 

— day of , 18 — , they became seized in fee of premises 

consisting- of one lot of land in said city of Rochester, bounded 
and described as follows, to wit : 

All that tract or parcel of land situate 

{Particularly describe the premises.') 

That they caused to be built a rectory on said premises, 
which has ever since been used for the residence of the rector 
of said church, and which is of the value of about $io,ooo. 

That, owing to circumstances beyond their control, they have 
become indebted to various individuals in the sum of about 
$9,000 ; that some of the said creditors threaten to put their 
claims in judgment ; that said corporation has no other prop- 
erty except their church edifice, which is of the value of about 
$20,000, and no means of satisfying said indebtedness except 
by a sale of the premises hereinbefore particularly described. 

That at a meeting of the vestry of said church, duly called, 

and held on the — day of , 18 — , and at which were present 

the rector, two church wardens and six vestrymen, the fol- 
lowing resolution was adopted by a unanimous vote (or by the 
vote of a majority of those present at said meeting), to wit : 

Whereas, this church has incurred an indebtedness of about 
$9,000, and we have no means of paying the same except by a 
sale of the rectory of said church and the lot on which the 
same is situate : Now, therefore, it is resolved that it is expe- 



IOO SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

dient to sell said rectory lot for the purpose aforesaid, and that 
, Esq., the clerk of this vestry, be, and he hereby is, au- 
thorized to apply to the Monroe County Court for an order 
directing the sale of said rectory property. 

Your petitioners, therefore, pray that, by an order of this 
court, authority may be given to said corporation to sell said 
property, so described as aforesaid, and that said rector, war- 
dens and vestrymen be authorized to make conveyance thereof 
for the purposes aforesaid. 

, Petitioner. 

Form of verification as in No. 5 above, substituting word 
clerk for rector. 



(FORM NO. 8.) 

ORDER OF SALE. 

At a term of the County Court, held at the Court 

House in the city of , in said county, on the — day 

of , 18—. 

Present, Hon. , Judge of said Court. 

In the matter of 



(as in petition). 

Upon reading and filing petition of , clerk of the ves- 
try of St. Church, whereby it is shown to be expedi- 
ent and necessary for the said corporation to sell and dispose 
of its rectory property, which is bounded and described as 

follows : 

{Here describe it.) 

and the said clerk was duly authorized by said vestry to make 
said application. 
Now, therefore, on motion of , attorney for said petitioner, 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. IOI 

it is ordered that said Rector, Church Wardens and Vestry- 
men, be, and they are hereby authorized and directed to sell 
the premises aforesaid, for the best price which can be ob- 
tained therefor, and to make and execute any and all neces- 
sary and proper deed or deeds for that purpose. 



(FORM NO. 9.) 

AGREEMENT FOR CONSOLIDATION. 

Agreement made this — day of , 18 — , by and be- 
tween the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of St. 
George's Church, in the City of New York, of the first part, 
and the Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestrymen of the Church 
of the Intercessor, of the second part, witnesseth : 

That said parties covenant and agree to and with each 
other, that said religious corporations shall unite and consoli- 
date, upon the following terms and conditions, to wit : 

1st. The name of the new church or corporation so to be 
formed by the consolidation of the parties as aforesaid, shall 
be known and distinguished as the Rector, Church Wardens 
and Vestrymen of the Church of the Messiah, and shall be- 
long to the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

2d. The following named persons shall act as church wardens 
and vestrymen of said Church of the Messiah until the first 
annual election of the proposed new corporation, which shall 
take place immediately after Morning Prayer, on Easter Mon- 
day in each year. 

3d. The place of worship of said united congregations shall 
be the church edifice, heretofore used by the said party of the 
part. 



102 SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

Witness the hands of the rector and clerk of said respective 
parties, thereunto duly authorized, and the official seal of each 
of said corporations, the day and year first above written. 

[L.S.] 

[us.] 

[L.S.] 

[L.S.] 

State of New York, ) 
County, \ ' 

On this day of , 18 — , before me, the subscriber, 

personally appeared , to me known, who being by me duly 

sworn, did depose and say that he resides in in said 

county ; that he is the clerk of the vestry of said St. George's 

Church, of the city of ; that by a resolution of said vestry 

duly adopted by a majority (or unanimous) vote of those pres- 
ent at a meeting duly called for that purpose, he and said 

rector, were on the — day of , 18 — , duly authorized and 

instructed to execute the foregoing instrument on behalf of 

said vestry ; that he and said rector did, by virtue of said 

resolution, sign the same on the day of the date thereof ; that 
he knows the corporate seal of said vestry, and that he at the 
same time by the like authority affixed the same to the instru- 
ment aforesaid. , Notary Public. 

Same form of proof as to the execution by the other party. 

A duplicate of the agreement must then be presented to the 
Bishop and Standing Committee of the Diocese for their ap- 
proval, and may be approved by them in the following form : 
(No. 10.) 

We , the Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York, 

and , constituting a majority of the Standing Committee of 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. IO3 

said diocese, hereby express our approval of the within agree- 
ment, and consent to the union and consolidation therein 
named. 

Dated . 



(FORM NO. 10.) 
petition for consolidation. 
Supreme Court. 



In the matter 

of 

The Petition of the Rector, Church Wardens 
and Vestrymen of St. George's Church, 
to unite and consolidate with the Rector, 
Church Wardens and Vestrymen of the 
Church of the Intercessor. 



The petition of the rector, church wardens and vestrymen 
of St. George's Church, in the city of , respectfully shows : 

That your petitioners are a religious corporation duly incor- 
porated' under and by virtue of the laws of the State of New 
York : 

That on the — day of , 18 — , your petitioners made 

and executed a petition, in writing, with the rector, church 
wardens and vestrymen of the Church of the Intercessor, of the 
same city, of which the following is a copy : 
{Here insert agreement.') 

That said agreement has received the sanction and approval 
of the Bishop and Standing Committee of the diocese of — — . 



104 SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

That the reason of making said agreement was that within 
the territorial limits of the parishes in which said corporations 
are located there are not a sufficient number of Episcopalians 
to sustain both of said corporations, and that in consequence 
the income of your petitioners derived frorrx revenues of said 
St. George's Church, for some time .past, has not been equal to 
their expenditures in conducting the worship of the same. 

That Schedule " A," hereto annexed, contains a true state- 
ment of the real and personal property of said corporation. 

That Schedule " B," hereto annexed, contains a particular 
statement of the indebtedness and liabilities of said corporation. 

That said corporation has no income except such as is de- 
rived from the rental of its pews and its weekly offertory, which 
amounted during the year just closed, to about the sum of 



Wherefore, your petitioners pray for the order of this Court 
authorizing and directing them to form a union and consolida- 
tion with the rector, church wardens and vestrymen of said 
Church of the Intercessor, upon the terms and conditions 
specified in the agreement beforesaid. 

(Signed by the rector, church wardens and vestrymen, and 
verified by the rector as in No. 5 above.) 



(FORM NO. n.) 

ORDER OF CONSOLIDATION. 

At a term of the Supreme Court, held at the Court House 

in , in and for the county of , on the day of , 

18—. 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 



I05 



Present, The Honorable 



-, Justice. 



In the matter 

of 

The Petitions of the Rector, etc., of St. 
George's Church, and of the Rector, etc., 
of the Church of the Intercessor, asking 
to be united and consolidated. 



Upon reading and filing the petition of the rector, church 
wardens and vestrymen of St. George's Church, in the city of 

, and also the petition of the rector, church wardens and 

vestrymen of the Church of the Intercessor, in said city, each 
asking, for reasons set forth in said petitions, that said corpo- 
rations be united and consolidated, and also setting forth that 
an agreement between said corporations has been duly ex- 
ecuted by and between each of them to and with the other for 
that purppse, of which said agreement the following is a copy : 
{Here insert copy of agreement?) 

Each of which petitions also sets forth that such an agree- 
ment has received the approval of the Bishop and Standing 
Committee of the diocese in which said corporations are located, 
and also contains a statement of the indebtedness of the cor- 
poration and all its property, and the amount and sources of 
its annual income. 

Now, therefore, on motion of , attorney for said peti- 
tioners, it is hereby ordered that said religious corporations be 
and the same hereby are united and consolidated into one 



Io5 SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

corporation, to be known and distinguished as St. Church, 

in the city of , with the rights and powers, duties and ob- 
ligations provided by law and upon the terms and conditions 
mentioned in the agreement aforesaid. 

The statute provides that upon entering this order with the 
clerk of the court granting it, in the county where such cor- 
porations are located, all the estates, rights, and property of 
whatsoever nature, belonging to either of said corporations, 
shall, without further act or deed, be vested in and transferred 
to the new corporation as effectually as they were vested in or 
belonged to the former corporations, and the said new corpo- 
ration shall be liable for all the debts and liabilities of the for- 
mer corporation in the same manner and as effectuallyas if 
said debts or liabilities had been contracted or incurred by it. 



(FORM NO. 12.) 

CERTIFICATE OF CHANGE IN NUMBER OF VESTRYMEN. 

To all to whom these presents shall come : We whose 
names are hereto subscribed, do certify that on the — day of 

, 18 — , at a regular meeting of the rector, church wardens 

and vestrymen of— — Church, Rochester, in the State of New 
York, held at the rectory of said church, at which were pres- 
ent the rector, church wardens, and vestrymen, the following 
resolution was unanimously adopted, to wit : 

Resolved, That it is expedient that the number of persons to 

officiate as vestrymen of Church in the City of — — , 

be changed to — ; that notice was given by the rector of such 
church in the time of divine service on two Sundays next pre* 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 107 

vious to Easter Monday, , 18 — , that an election of war- 
dens and vestrymen of said church would be held on the day 
last aforesaid, immediately after Morning Prayer at the chapel 
of said church, at 9.30 A.M. on that day, and that said resolu- 
tion would be then and there submitted to the electors quali- 
fied to vote at said election for their approval or rejection ; 
that at an election duly held in pursuance of such notice, a 
vote was taken for that purpose, and said resolution was 
unanimously adopted. 

In witness whereof we, , rector of said church, and , 

two electors present at said meeting, have hereunto set our 

hands and seals this — day of , 18 — . 

[L.S.] 

[L.S.] 

[L.S.] 

(Form of acknowledgment as in No. 2.) 



(FORM NO. 13) 

CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE. 

I, , a duly ordained clergyman of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church residing in the city of New York, and rector of St. 
James' Church, therein, do hereby certify that on the — day of 

, 18 — , at the rectory of said church (or at No. 

Street, in said city, or in said Church), I united in marriage 
John James Doe and Mary Jane Roe, both of whom are resi- 
dents of said city, and who were known to me (or satisfactorily 
proven to me) to be the identical persons herein above named, 
and of sufficient age to contract marriage ; that the attesting 

witnesses present at such marriage were and , who 

reside in said city of New York ; that after due inquiry made 



Io8 SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

for the purpose, there appeared to be no legal impediment to 
such marriage. 

Witness my hand at , this — day of , 18 — . 



(FORM NO. 14.) 

deposition of applicant for marriage. 
State of New York, 



Monroe County, 

The deposition of , who, being by me duly sworn, doth 

depose and say as follows : I have applied to Rev. , 

to be by him united in marriage to , who resides in 

the of , in said county. . My age is — years ; I re- 
side at No. , in the of , in the State of . 

I have never been married (or I was once married to 

, but was lawfully divorced from him on or about the — 



day of , 18 — , on the ground of his adultery). I know of 

no legal impediment to my marriage. 

(Signed by applicant.) 

The foregoing deposition was by me carefully read over to 

said witness, and by him subscribed in my presence this — 

day of , 18 — . 

, Rector, etc. 



(FORM NO. 15.) 

NOTICE OF MEETING TO CONVEY PROPERTY TO TRUSTEES 
OF THE PAROCHIAL FUND. 

Notice is hereby given that at a meeting of the vestry of 
this church held at the rectory on the — inst., the follow- 
ing resolution was unanimously adopted : 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 109 

"Resolved, That it is expedient to convey our church edifice 
and rectory, and the lands on which the same are situate, to 
the Trustees of the Parochial Fund of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church in the Diocese of Western New York." 

A meeting of members of this society entitled to vote for 
churcli wardens and vestrymen thereof will be held in this 

church on the — day of next, to take action on such 

resolution, and to determine whether the same shall or shall 
not be ratified and confirmed. 



(FORM NO. 16.) 

CERTIFICATE OF THE ACTION OF THE ELECTORS AT THE 
MEETING CALLED BY SUCH NOTICE. 

We, , rector of Church, who presided at the meeting 

hereinafter named, and and and , three electors 

present at said meeting requested by said rector to unite in 
this certificate, do hereby certify that a meeting of the duty 
qualified electors of said society was this day held in the 
church building in pursuance of notice given and posted, 
as required by law, to take action upon a resolution of the 
vestry of said church, passed at a meeting thereof duly called, 
held on the — day of , 18 — , of which notice the follow- 
ing is a copy : 

{Insert notice as in preceding form.) 

That said Rev. — — presided at said meeting, and said 

• and and , who are electors of said church, 

were present at the same. 

That fifty ballots were cast at such meeting, of which forty 



IIO SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

were cast " for the resolution of the vestry," and ten were cast 
" against the resolution of the vestry." 
In witness we, said presiding officer and said electors, have 

herewith set our hands and seals this — day of , 18 — . 

(Form of acknowledgment as in No. 2 above.) 



(FORM NO. 17.) 

OF DEED TO TRUSTEES. 

This indenture, made this day of , 18 — , by and 

between the Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of Church, 

in the city of Rochester, county of Monroe, and State of 
New York, of the first part, and the Trustees of the Paro- 
chial Fund of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Dio- 
cese of Western New York, of the second part, witnesseth 

that, whereas, on the — day of , 18 — , a certificate 

was made by Rev. , rector of said church and and 

, and -, electors thereof showing that, 

{Here set forth the recitals of the certificate.') 

Now, therefore, in consideration of the premises, and of the 
sum of one dollar to said party of the first part duly paid, said 
party of the first part hath sold, granted and conveyed, and 
doth hereby sell, grant and convey to said party of the second 
part all that tract or parcel of land situate, 
{Here describe it.) 

with the appurtenances, to have and to hold the same for the 
use and benefit of said party of the first part. In witness 
whereof said parties of the first part have hereunto set their 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. Ill 

hands and affixed their corporate seal the day and year first 

above written. 

(Signed by Rector and Clerk.) 

(Form of acknowledgment or proof as in No. 9 above.) 



(FORM NO. 18.) 

the petition for conveyance of real estate by 
trustees of parochial fund. 

Supreme Court. 



In the matter of the petition 

of 

The Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of 

Church, in the City of , that the 

trustees therein named convey the lands 
held by them in trust for said petitioners. 



To the Justices of said Court : 

Your petitioners respectfully show that they are a religious 
corporation duly incorporated under and by virtue of the laws 

of the State of New York ; that on the — day of , by their 

indenture duly made for that purpose, in pursuance of chapter 
124 of the Laws of 1884, they conveyed, with other property, to 
the Trustees of the Parochial Fund in the Diocese of Western 
New York their rectory property, consisting of one small house 
and lot, which is bounded and described as follows : 
{Here describe such property.') 



112 SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 

That by reason of the insufficiency of said house and lot for 
the accommodation of the rector of said church, and by reason 
that your petitioners have the means, together with what can 
be raised from the sale of said present rectory, to build a new, 
larger, and more commodious residence for said rector, it 
was, at a meeting of your petitioners, duly called for that pur- 
pose, determined by unanimous resolution that it is expedient 
and desirable to sell said rectory lot for the purpose aforesaid, 
and that a meeting of members of the congregation duly 
authorized to vote therefor be called to consider the propriety 
of adopting said resolution. 

That in pursuance of such action as aforesaid notice was 
given and posted as required by law that such meeting would 
be held at the place of worship of said church on the — day 

of , 18 — , at which time such meeting was held, and the 

question embodied in such resolution was submitted to the 
voters there present, and twenty-five lawful votes were cast in 
favor of and ratifying such resolution, and none against it ; a 
certificate of which said action, duly acknowledged, has been 

recorded in the office of the Clerk of the County of , a 

copy of which is hereto annexed and made part of this peti- 
tion. 

Your petitioners therefore pray for an order of this Honor- 
able Court authorizing and directing the Trustees of said 
Parochial Fund to sell and convey the property herein above 
particularly described, and the proceeds pay to your peti- 
tioners for the purpose of building a new rectory aforesaid. 
(Verification as in No. 5 above.) 



SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING FORMS. 113 

(FORM NO. 19.-) 

ORDER FOR SALE IN PURSUANCE OF THE FOREGOING 

PETITION. 

At a term of the Supreme Court held in the Court House of 

the* City of , in and for the County of , on the — day 

of , 18—. 

Present, Hon. , Justice. 

{Title.) 

Upon reading and filing the petition of the rector, wardens 
and vestrymen aforesaid showing that they are a religious 

corporation ; that on the — day of , 18 — , they conveyed 

by their deed dated on that day, to the Trustees of the Paro- 
chial Fund of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese 
of Western New York, the premises herein described as 

follows : 

{Here describe them.) 

That said deed was duly recorded in the office of the Clerk 

of in Liber of Deeds at p. — , and it appears to the 

Court that there are good reasons for granting the prayer of 
said petition, and that said petitioners have complied in all 
respects with the provisions of § 8, chapter 124 of the Laws 
of 1884. In and by which said petition, said petitioners 
pray that the trustees aforesaid may be required to sell said 
premises and pay the proceeds thereof to said petitioners for 
the purposes therein mentioned. 

Now, therefore, on motion of , attorney for said peti- 
tioners, it is ordered that said Trustees of the Parochial Fund 
aforesaid sell and convey said property for the best price 
which can be obtained for the same, and the proceeds pay to 
said petitioners for the uses and purposes mentioned and set 

forth in said petition. 
8 



APPENDIX 



THE THIRD EDITION 



Law of the Protestant Episcopal Church 



CONTAINING 



THE LAW OF OTHER PROMINENT 
ECCLESIASTICAL BODIES 

WITH FORMS 



BY 

GEORGE H. HUMPHREY 

COUNSELOR AT LAW, OF ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



PREFACE TO APPENDIX. 



My treatise on the law of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church received so kind a reception from the 
members of that body, and I have been honored 
by so many urgent requests from those prominent 
in other religious societies to add to it the law 
relating to their own organizations, that I have, with 
much hesitation, prepared the following. My only 
excuse for it is that the ground seems to be wholly 
unoccupied, and that I have spared myself no 
amount of toil in preparing it. It has been my 
effort to present the rules of law applicable to 
each denomination in so simple a form that any 
clergyman or layman may conduct all the business 
of the Church without the expensive aid of the 
legal fraternity. 

I have added forms for all ordinary proceedings 
which seem to me complete and able to endure 
judicial scrutiny. The only work on the subject 
now extant, so far as I am aware, is that of Hoffman, 



Il8 PREFACE. TO APPENDIX. 

published many years ago, erudite and able, but 
largely a compilation of statutes and intelligible 
to lawyers only. Since its publication the law has 
been largely altered by more recent statutes, so 
that it would not now be a reliable guide even for 
the legal profession. I think no manual has ever 
before been offered to the public, which, like this, 
presents only a clear, simple, and very lucid view 
of the law of each of the large religious bodies, 
in such guise as to be, to lawyers and laymen alike, 
a guide and light on the path of ecclesiastical juris- 
prudence. 

George H. Humphrey, 

Rochester, N. Y., May, 1890. 



THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



HISTORY. 



PRIOR to the American Revolution the Presby- 
terian Church had but an uncertain footing in the 
State of New York. The Dutch Church tolerated 
no form of worship not in harmony with that set 
forth by the Synod of Dort. Its forms and cere- 
monies were not so inconsistent with the views of 
devout Presbyterians as to exclude them from par- 
ticipation in its worship. When New York became 
a colony of Great Britain, it was provided that the 
Dutch were to enjoy the liberty of conscience in 
divine worship and church discipline. In each of 
the years 17 19, 1721, and 1759, applications were 
made to the Governors, on behalf of Presbyterians 
of New York City, asking for acts of incorporation. 
But, after many references to different bodies, the 
Lords of Trade, and others, involving vexatious 



T20 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — HISTORY. 

delays and disappointments, the applications were 
in each case denied, upon the ground that they 
were inconsistent with the principles of English 
law and the exclusive claims of the Church of 
England to the allegiance of British colonists. The 
Lords of Trade, in answer to such an application, 
declared in July, 1767, that it was not expedient, 
upon principles of general policy, to comply with 
the prayer of the petition, or to give the Presby- 
terian Church of New York any other privileges 
or immunities than it is entitled to by the laws 
of toleration. Lord Dartmouth, in 1775, writing 
about it to Governor Tryon, said : " The only dif- 
ficulty or doubt which has occurred is, whether 
such charter would not have an effect to create 
an establishment inconsistent with the principles 
of the laws of England." The point was also 
made — a point, as was said, " of great weight and 
importance," namely, whether " His Majesty, with 
the obligation he is under by his coronation oath, 
founded on the act of the 5th of Queen Anne, 
Cap. 5, entitled 'An Act for securing the Church 
of England as by law established,' could create 
such establishment in favor of the Presbyterian 
Church." 

But the authority of the Church of England 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — HOW INCORPORATED. 121 

was terminated by the Revolution, and the prin- 
ciple firmly established which is now ingrafted in 
the Constitution of the State of New York, that 
" the free exercise and enjoyment of religious pro- 
fession and worship, without discrimination or pref- 
erence, shall forever be allowed in this State to 
all mankind." From that time onward the growth 
and progress of the Presbyterian Church has been 
like that of the stars, unhasting yet unresting, but 
increasing yearly in strength, and steady and 
healthy progression in beneficence, usefulness, and 
numbers. 

The first church of this denomination was in- 
corporated in the City of New York about the 
first day of June, 1784. Its corporate name was 
the First Presbyterian Church of the City of New 
York. 

How Incorporated. 

Any church desiring corporate rights and privi- 
leges may become a body corporate by electing trus- 
tees", not less than three nor more than nine, as 

follows : 

Notice. 

The minister, if there be one, or in case of his 
death or absence one of the elders, or for want of 
such officers any member or stated hearer in the 



122 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — HOW INCORPORATED. 

church, shall, for two successive Sundays next pre- 
ceding the election, publicly during divine service 
notify the congregation when and where the elec- 
tion shall be held. The first notice shall be read at 
least fifteen days prior to the election, and may be 

as follows : 

Form of Notice. 

Notice is hereby given that on the day of , 1890, 

an election will be held in this church at ten o'clock A.M., for 
the purpose of choosing- {not less than three nor more than 
nine) persons to act as trustees of the church. 

The election must be held in the place where 
they statedly attend for divine worship, whether it 
be an upper room, a dwelling-house, or a cathedral. 

Election : How Conducted. 

It need not be by ballot, as the language is that 
they shall determine " by plurality of votes." This 
plainly contemplates a viva voce vote, although I 
hardly think it would exclude a ballot, since both 
are but the expression of a preference, and both 
equally certain and convenient. 

Who May Vote. 

The elector must, first, belong to the church ; 
second, be of full age ; third, have statedly wor- 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH HOW INCORPORATED. 123 

shipecl with such congregation ; and, fourth, for- 
merly been considered as belonging to the church. 
Every "person " of full age, and having the other 
qualifications mentioned, may vote at such elec- 
tion. This would certainly include females, more 
especially as the statute elsewhere speaks of males 
of full age. This view has been sanctioned by the 
Court of Appeals in Lynch v. Pfeiffer, no N.Y., 33. 

The rights of voters depend absolutely on the 
statute, and cannot be changed by any action of the 
trustees or Church Society. The period during 
which the voter must have belonged to the church, 
or been a stated worshiper, is not specified, but it 
must have been surely long enough to identify him 
with the church ; certainly, and at least, two or three 
months. The term " full age " means, of course, 
twenty-one years of age or older. The words, " who 
has statedly worshiped with the church," mean one 
who has been a habitual worshiper. An occasional 
attendance, perhaps once a month, would hardly be 
sufficient. As before said, the statute implies one 
who has become so identified with the society as to 
have such an interest in it that he will be likely to 
seek by his vote its true welfare. 

The trustees must be elected by a plurality of 
voices. The three or five or seven or nine (what- 



124 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — HOW INCORPORATED. 

ever the number may be), having the most votes, 
shall be declared elected. 

At the hour and place named in the notice, two 
of the elders, if such there be, and if no such offi- 
cers, then two of the members of the church nomi- 
nated by a majority of those present shall preside 
at such election, receive the vote of the electors, be 
the judges of the qualifications of such electors, and 
the officers to return the names of the persons who, 
by plurality of votes, shall be elected to serve as 
trustees for such church. 

The polls shall be kept open for a reasonable time, 
the presiding officers shall act as tellers, and, after 
the votes shall have been counted and announced, 
shall make a certificate under their hands and seals 
substantially as follows : 

Form of Certificate. 

Know all men by these presents, 

That we, John Doe and Richard Roe, elders of the First 

Presbyterian Church of , Monroe County and State of 

New York, or (this day nominated by a majority of members 
present at said church at an election duly notified to elect 
seven [or other number] persons to act as trustees of said 
church) who have this day acted as presiding officers at an 
election duly held to elect (seven) trustees for said society, do 
hereby certify and return : 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 1 25 

1st. That notice of such meeting was duly given as required 
by law. 

2d. That we acted as presiding officers at such election. 

3d. That the following persons, by a plurality of voices of 
lawful voters present at such election, were elected to serve as 
trustees for said church, to wit : 

{Here name them.) 

That said trustees, and their successors, shall be hereafter 

called and known as the " Trustees of the First Presbyterian 

Church of " {or other name). 

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and 

seals this day of , 1890. 

John Doe. [l.s.] 

Richard Roe. [l.s.] 

(Form of acknowledgment as hereinbefore stated, page 94.) 

The certificate, after being signed and sealed by 

the presiding officers, shall be recorded in the office 

of the Clerk of the County where the society is 

located. Thereupon said trustees, by the name 

expressed in such certificate, shall become a body 

corporate. 

Laws of 1813, ch. 60. 

Powers of the Trustees. 
I. 

TO HAVE A COMMON SEAL. 
The trustees shall respectively have and use a 
common seal, and may renew and alter the same at 



126 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 

their pleasure. I can add nothing on this subject 
to what I have said ante, pp. 19 and 20. 

Town of Solon v. Savings Bank, 1 14 N. Y. R., 1 14. 

II. 

To take into their possession and custody all the 
temporalities belonging to said church or society, 
whether the same consist of real or personal estate, 
and whether given directly to said church or to any 
other person for their use. 

They have the entire control of the property 
of the church, subject, however, to the condition 
that it shall be used to promote the worship of 
Almighty God in accordance with the usages of the 
Presbyterian Church. They can only sell the prop- 
erty by valid deed in accordance with the regula- 
tions hereinbefore set forth at page 47, which must 
be strictly complied with to render the conveyance 
valid. It seems to be the better ooinion that the 
trustees, for good reasons, may mortgage the church 
property without a judicial direction to that effect, 
and I have cited two authorities so holding. 

Manning v. Society, etc., 2 J Barb., 52. 
Baptist Society v. Clapp, 18 Barb., 35. 

I am, however, still inclined to think that the 
word sell, in the nth section of the Act of 1813, 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 1 27 

might be construed to include a conditional sale, 
and that it would be safer to procure the requisite 
order for that purpose. The custom of the best 
lawyers in New York City also sanctions this view. 

The control of the trustees over the property of 
the church is well expressed in chapter 79 of the 
Laws of 1875, section 4, as follows: 

" The trustees of any church, congregation, and 
religious society incorporated under section 3 of 
the above-mentioned act" {Laws of 181 3, ch. 60), 
which includes all religious bodies except the Re- 
formed Dutch and Episcopal Churches, " shall ad- 
minister the temporalities thereof and hold and 
apply the estate and property belonging thereto, 
and the revenues of the same, for the benefit of 
such corporation according to the discipline, rules, 
and usages of the denomination to which the church 
members of the corporation belong ; and it shall 
not be lawful for the trustees to devote such estate, 
property, or revenues to any other purpose, except 
toward the support and maintenance of any relig- 
ious, benevolent, or other institution connected 
with such church, congregation, or society." 

The definition of their powers is so clear and 
perfect in above that it needs no further elucida- 
tion. But the statute has received judicial inter- 



128 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 

pretation in the matter of the First Presbyterian 
Society of Buffalo (106 N. F., 251). Upon the peti- 
tion of a majority of those who constituted the cor- 
poration, the Supreme Court had made an order 
consenting to the sale of its real estate, and direct- 
ing the proceeds to be applied to the purpose of 
providing such other place of worship as the society 
should decide. On appeal from the order it was 
contended that the property could not be sold, 
and a good title to it given, by reason of a trust 
imposed on it. But Judge Finch, ably answering 
this position, refutes it as follows : " The deed to 
the corporation is absolute and without condition 
or reservation. It created no trust beyond that 
general duty which the law puts upon a corporation 
of using its property for the purposes contemplated 
in its creation. That sort of trust is not one which 
fastens on the land and inheres in the title, giving 
with it when it passes a restraining element, but 
founded solely upon the corporate character of the 
grantee, and so justifying the control which the 
statute gives to the courts. The title to the church 
is an absolute fee, which it can transmit to a vendee 
with the judicial consent and approval. When that 
occurs the proceeds take the place of the land and 
become the corporate property, which the court, by 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 129 

a suitable direction, devotes to the proper uses and 
purposes which the corporation was formed to sub- 
serve, and to accomplish which its property was 
bestowed. It is in no respect diverted from the 
religious corporation, or even from its denomina- 
tional uses, and so far as there is an element of 
trust a sale is consistent with and not destructive 
of it." 

It was next contended that the acts of 1875, ch. 
79, and 1876, ch. no, had so changed the existing 
law as to require for the conveyance the precedent 
approval of the presbytery, but the same learned 
jurist conclusively answers that position as follows : 
" Before these amendments were made, it had been 
settled that a religious corporation held its tempo- 
ralities wholly free from the domination of any 
ecclesiastical authority and by a tenure so indepen- 
dent that it could change its creed and denomina- 
tional character without loosing its hold upon its 
property. 

" Doubtless the acts of 1875 and 1876 were in- 
tended to restrain, in some degree, that sort of 
diversion of church property from one sect to 
another, for the provision is that the trustees shall 
hold and administer it according to the rules and 
usages of the denomination to which the church 



130 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 

members of the corporation belong, and shall not 
divert it to the support of some other disconnected 
institution. It is not important to take the measure 
of this new legislation, for no authority in the church 
has ever held or pretended that a society could not 
sell its land without the consent of the presbytery." 
The corporation may hold property the net an- 
nual income of which shall not exceed one hundred 
thousand dollars. 

Laws of 1889, ch. 191, p. 225. 

This is, of course, exclusive of the building used 
for divine worship. 

III. 

They have a right to sue and be sued by their 
corporate name in all courts of law. Suits should 
be commenced by and instituted against them, by 
their title as expressed in the certificate of incorpo- 
ration, as "The trustees of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Rochester." 

IV. 

They have power to alter their churches or meet- 
ing-houses, to erect others if necessary, to erect 
dwelling-houses for the use of the ministers, and 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH POWERS OF TRUSTEES. I3I 

school-houses and other buildings for the use of 
such church, congregation, or society. Such trus- 
tees have power to make rules and orders for 
managing the temporal affairs of such church, con- 
gregation, or society, and to dispose of all moneys 
belonging thereto, and to regulate and order the 
renting the pews in the churches and meeting- 
houses, and the perquisites for the breaking of the 
ground for the cemetery or church-yards, and in the 
said churches or meeting-houses for burying the 
dead, and all other matters relating to the temporal 
concerns and revenues of such society, to appoint a 
clerk, collector, and treasurer, to remove them at 
pleasure, and to regulate their compensation. 

Laws of 1813, ch. 60, §4. 

Classification. 

The trustees immediately after the election shall 
be divided by lot into three classes, numbered one, 
two, and three. The seats of the members of the 
first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the 
first year, of the members of the second class at the 
expiration of the second year, and the members of 
the third class at the expiration of the third year, to 
the end that the third part of the whole number 
of trustees as nearly as possible may be annually 



132 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — ELECTION OF TRUSTEES. 

chosen. We have pointed out the manner in which 
the classification should be made on another page. 

Subsequent Elections 

must be notified in the same manner as the first, 
at divine service, fifteen days before the election on 
three successive Sabbaths, or days of stated worship, 
by, first, the minister ; if none, second, by one of the 
elders or deacons ; and for the want of such officers, 
third, by any other member or stated hearer in the 
church. The notice must specify the time and 
place of holding the election, which shall be at least 
six days before the expiration of the time of service 
of the class then about to terminate, and shall take 
place in the church or meeting-house used by the 
congregation. 

Two of the elders, if such there be, shall preside 
at the election and receive the votes, or, if there be 
none, two members of the congregation, to be nomi- 
nated by a majority of the members present, shall 
perform that duty. 

The qualification of the voters was well stated 
by the court in the People v. Phillips, 1 Kernan, 
388. Judge Beardsley says: " These sections pre- 
scribe the qualifications of electors, which, in brief, 
are: 1. Membership. No one can be an elector 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ELECTION OF TRUSTEES. 133 

who does not belong to such church, congregation, 
or society. 2. He must have been for a year at 
least a stated attendant on divine worship in said 
church, congregation, or society. 3. He must have 
contributed to the support of the same according 
to the usages and customs thereof. 

" These qualifications can neither be abridged nor 
extended by any act of the trustees or of the cor- 
porators, but every person thus qualified has an 
incontestable right to vote at the election of trus- 
tees. The statute under which the incorporation 
was formed is its constitution, and every act in 
violation of this paramount law is necessarily in- 
valid. This is a well-settled principle of the com- 
mon law, and is of universal application to all 
corporations." The most thorough discussion of 
the subject is in People agt. Tnthill, 31 N. K R., 
560, as follows : 

" The question to be determined is, What con- 
stitutes stated attendance on divine worship ? It 
is obviously something more than mere attend- 
ance. It is attendance of a particular nature or 
character. The term stated is used to characterize 
the nature or kind of attendance which shall con- 
fer one part of the qualification or right. ' Stated,' 
as denned by Webster, is ' settled, established, 



134 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — ELECTION OF TRUSTEES. 

regular, occurring at regular times, not occasional ; 
as, stated hours of business.' A stated attendant 
is one who attends statedly, which is defined to be 
' regularly at certain times, not occasionally.' The 
distinction between an attendant of that character, 
and one whose attendance is irregular and at uncer- 
tain periods or occasional only, is plain and well 
understood. Indeed, it is too plain and obvious 
to be aided much by attempts at exact description 
or definition. Regular attendance at the stated 
times for worship, as established in the church, or 
society, or congregation, as distinguishable from 
irregular or occasional attendance, is what is neces- 
sary. This attendance must be personal, and can- 
not be supplied by another. The regular attend- 
ance of a wife or other member of the family will 
not answer ; and no amount of contribution to 
the support of the church or society can be ac- 
cepted in lieu of this personal presence statedly. 
It is plain enough that the persons whose votes 
were challenged and rejected at the election in 
question were not such attendants as the statute 
requires to constitute legal voters. For the year 
preceding the election they had been, as clearly 
appears from the evidence, irregular and occasional 
attendants at most. Most of them seem to have 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — ELECTION OF TRUSTEES. 135 

been regular contributors to the support of the 
society for many years, but not regular attendants 
on divine worship for the year preceding. They had 
one qualification, but not both, and their votes 
were properly rejected. It is unnecessary to deter- 
mine, in this case, how often a person must attend 
at the stated periods for worship in the course of a 
year, to be a stated attendant. It is enough to 
say, that persons who attend a few times only in 
the course of a year, as compared with the number 
of stated times for worship within such year, and 
at irregular and uncertain intervals, are clearly not 
stated attendants. 

" The next question is, in what manner a man 
must contribute to the support of such church or 
society in order to be a qualified voter. He must 
contribute to its support according to the usages 
and customs thereof. This undoubtedly means 
substantial and vital aid and support. Personal 
attendance and countenance might in one sense, 
contribute to the support of such an organization. 
But that is not the contribution intended by this 
provision of the statute. The statute means the 
necessary material support, without which the 
organization cannot exercise its ordinary functions 
and perform its customary and appropriate duties, 



136 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — ELECTION OF TRUSTEES. 

and ministrations. It means the parting with, and 
contribution of, a portion of one's worldly sub- 
stance, in the usual and customary way, to be used 
in meeting and defraying the expenses incurred by 
the church, congregation, or society in the support 
of divine worship. Merely attending as a wor- 
shipper, or taking a leading or a subordinate part in 
the exercises, or rendering some special gratuitous 
service, will not answer this requirement of the 
statute. If the service rendered, however, is such 
as is usually and customarily hired and paid for by 
such organizations, and is by some understanding 
or agreement, express or implied, rendered as an 
equivalent, or in lieu of a contribution in money or 
property, such service would undoubtedly be a con- 
tribution to the support of the church, society, or 
congregation Avithin the sense and meaning of the 
statute. The test is, does the contribution, what- 
ever it may be, go immediately and directly to the 
support of the public worship maintained by the 
church, congregation, or society? In this view, con- 
tributions made not for the support and mainte- 
nance of the religious incorporation, but for the 
support or promotion of some other object or enter- 
prise in which the church, congregation, or society 
may be engaged, however valuable or praiseworthy, 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — ELECTION OF TRUSTEES. I37 

as Sunday-schools, missions, and the like, will not 
be sufficient. 

" The obvious and sensible policy of the statute 
was to secure the government and control of the 
temporalities of each of the religious incorporations 
formed under it to such of its members or sup- 
porters as should manifest their attachment to its 
tenets and doctrines, and their interest in its suc- 
cess and usefulness, by their habitual presence and 
countenance, and their habitual contributions to its 
support. It is quite plain, too, that upon no other 
principle or policy could these corporate bodies, 
depending as they all do upon mere voluntary con- 
tributions for their maintenance and support, be 
permanently kept up, their existence continued, and 
their usefulness maintained." 

After the presiding officers have counted and 
announced the votes, they shall prepare a certificate 
substantially as follows : 

Form of Certificate. 

To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting : 
Know ye that we, John Doe and Richard Roe, elders of the 
Central Presbyterian Church of Rochester (or stated members 

and worshipers of the Church, duly chosen for* that 

purpose), who presided at an election this day held at said 



138 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — OF VACANCIES. 

church, of which notice was duly given, for the purpose of 
electing three trustees of said society, do hereby certify that 
we acted as such presiding officers and received the votes of 
lawful electors present, and that by a plurality of votes cast 
at said election the following persons were chosen such trus- 
tees, to wit : 

{Here give the full names.) 

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 
day of , 1890. 

The Clerk or Secretary of the Trustees shall 

thereupon enter such certificate in full in his book 

of minutes, and the same shall be evidence of such 

election. 

Laws of 1 8 13, ch. 60, § 6. 

Of Vacancies. 

A vacancy is created whenever a trustee ceases 
to be a member of the church, congregation, or 
society, by removal or otherwise, or ceases to stat- 
edly attend upon or support its services. His place 
shall be declared vacant by a notice of the Board of 
Trustees to the church. Thereupon the society 
shall fill the vacancy by an election conducted in all 
respects as that prescribed for the choice of trustees 

hereinbefore described. 

Laws of 1875, ch. 79, § 2. 

But trustees continue in office not only until their 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH —MEETINGS OF TRUSTEES. 139 

time expires, but also until their successors are 

chosen. 

Id., § 15. 

Meetings 

must be called upon reasonable notice in writing; 
by analogy with the requirements of other similar 
bodies, I should say at least three days prior to the 
time of holding the same, but certainly long enough 
to allow the trustees to be present. Verbal notice, 
if acted upon, would be sufficient. In fact, the pres- 
ence of the trustee at the meeting without objection 
would be a waiver of notice. 

The president acts as chairman, or, in his ab- 
sence, any one by a majority of voices called to the 
place. A majority of trustees constitute a quorum 
for the transaction of business. Business com- 
menced when a quorum is present may be con- 
tinued with a smaller number ; otherwise it would 
be in the power of one or two persons, by leaving 
the meeting after its organization, entirely to thwart 
its proceedings. 

But, as a rule, the constitution and by-laws pre- 
scribe the rules subject to which the meeting shall 
be held, and, if adopted by a majority, in the ab- 
sence of any special statute constitute the laws of 
the board. 



140 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH— POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 

Any two of the trustees may call at any time a 
meeting of the board. A majority of the whole 
number shall constitute a quorum, and a major- 
ity of that quorum may determine any question 
brought before the meeting. The presiding trustee, 
in the event of an equal division, shall have a cast- 
ing vote. 

Laws of 1 81 3, ch. 60, § 5. 

The Clerk. 

It is the duty of the trustees at their first meet- 
ing to elect a clerk, to serve such time as the trus- 
tees may designate, and upon such terms as shall 
be provided by them. 

It is his duty to notify each member of the board 
of any meeting, of which written notice should be 
given at least three days before holding such meeting, 
specifying the time and place of holding the same. 

He must keep accurate minutes of all proceed- 
ings had at meetings of the trustees, in a book to 
be provided for that purpose. 

He must keep a register containing the names of 
all persons desiring to become stated hearers in the 
church. The names should be alphabetically ar- 
ranged, so as to be easily referred to, and the clerk 
should attend with it at all subsequent elections, in 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 141 

order to aid the inspectors in determining the quali- 
fications of voters. The absence, however, of the 
clerk, or his failure to keep such book, would not 
render an election invalid. The duty is devolved 
upon him to keep it, and the courts would, if asked 
to do so, compel him to perform it. 

The trustees cannot fix or ascertain the salary of 
the clergyman. But the same must be fixed by a 
majority of persons entitled to elect trustees at a 
meeting to be called for that purpose, and said 
salary, when fixed, must be ratified by said trustees, 
or a majority of them, by an instrument in writing 
under their common seal. 



Form of Writing. 

Whereas, at a meeting of the persons duly authorized to 
vote for trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Roch- 
ester, duly held at said church on the day of , 1890, 

the salary of Rev. John Doe, recently called to the pastorate 
of said church, was fixed and ascertained at the sum of $2,400 
per annum, not including the use of the parsonage belonging 
to said church, which was also allotted to him for his use so 
long as he shall continue to be such pastor, which said salary 
is to be paid monthly in advance ; that is, $200 on the first day 
of each and every month : 

Now, therefore, we, the trustees of said church, do hereby 
ratify the action of said electors so taken as aforesaid with 



142 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — TRUSTEES. 

reference to said salary, and agree as such trustees to pay the 

same, as so fixed and ascertained, to said John Poe. 

In witness whereof we have as such trustees hereunto set 

our hands and the corporate seal of said church this day 

of , 1890. 

Paddock v. Brown, 6 Hill, 530. 

Number of Trustees : How Increased and 
Diminished. 

The trustees can never be less than three or more 
than nine, but within that limit their number may be 
increased or reduced by the electors of the church. 
Notice of the proposed action and of the meeting 
for that purpose must be given at a stated service 
on Sunday at least two weeks beforehand. 

The notice may be as follows : 

The electors of this church are requested to meet 

in this room on Monday the instant at seven 

o'clock P.M., for the purpose of considering the pro- 
priety of increasing the number of our trustees to nine 
(or decreasing the number of our trustees to three). 

The meeting shall be held in all respects as a 
meeting for the election of trustees. The clerk at 
its conclusion shall enter the result on his minutes, 
and prepare a certificate which shall be signed by 
the presiding officers, acknowledged by them, and 
recorded. The Statute 'Law of 1866, ch. 414, does 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — TRUSTEES. 143 

not provide for this certificate or its record. But in 
analogy to similar statutes, I think, so important is 
the action that it would be always better to go 
through that form. 

Triennial Reports of Income. 

Section I of the Laws of 1850, ch. 122, provides that 
the treasurer, or the trustees or a majority of them, 
shall once in three years exhibit to a Justice of the 
Supreme Court an inventory of the estate and prop- 
erty of the church, where the same exceeds $6,000. 
But the act, I opine, is a dead letter, and, so far as I 
know, has never been observed ; more especially as 
churches are now permitted an income of $100,000. 
In the event of a large excess of income beyond 
this latter sum, the matter might be presented to 
the legislature, who would doubtless sanction the 
excess. 

Sale of Real Estate. 

The provisions for the sale of the lands of the 
corporation are the same as those explained ante, 
page 48, except that the word " trustees " must be 
used instead of the words, " rectors, wardens, and 
vestrymen." 

The land can be sold only for the benefit of the 
corporation, and the proceeds used for the contin- 



144 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH TRUSTEES. 

uance of its worship, and an order of the County 
Court directing a sale for any other purpose would 
be wholly void. The duty of the trustees is to pre- 
serve and administer the church property only for 
the promotion of the purposes for which the cor- 
poration was created. 

Wheaton v. Gates, 18 N. Y. R., 395. 

Trustees Hold Over When. 

'" Whenever there shall be any omission at their 
stated annual meeting to choose any of the trus- 
tees, vestrymen, church-wardens, or other officers, 
the corporation shall not be deemed dissolved, but 
the trustees and other officers in office shall continue 
therein until others shall be chosen in their stead: 
provided elections to supply such omissions shall 
be made within one year after their occurrence." 

Laws of 1844, ch. 158. 

Power to Provide Associate Churches, Chapels, 

etc. 

Whenever any religious corporation shall deem it 
necessary or expedient for the accommodation of 
its members to increase the facilities of public wor- 
ship, the vestry or trustees thereof may purchase or 
hold grounds in the same village, town, or city, 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 145 

and may erect thereon suitable associate houses, 
or churches or chapels, and also, at the same time 
or thereafter, purchase or hold other grounds for 
the purpose, and erect thereon suitable school- 
houses for Sunday or parochial schools for the said 
associate chapels, meeting-houses, or churches, and 
hold any such grounds, with suitable buildings 
already erected thereon for the like purpose, not- 
withstanding any restriction contained in its char- 
ter or the Act of 1813. And when the persons wor- 
shiping in any such associate meeting-house shall 
be incorporated, with the consent of the parent 
church, the latter may convey to the new corpora- 
tion, with or without consideration, the aforesaid 
meeting-houses or chapels or churches, and subject 
to such conditions as the trustees of said primary 
corporation may deem best ; provided, only, that 
such demise, grant, or conveyance shall be made in 
the manner now prescribed by law for the sale or 
mortgage of the real estate of religious corpora- 
tions. 

Laws of 1879, ch, 117. 

Change of Name. 

I have already ante, page 57, explained fully the 
proceedings adequate to accomplish a change of 
name. 



146 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 



Consolidation. 

Any two or more Presbyterian societies may, 
if duly incorporated, unite, and consolidate them- 
selves into a single corporation. 

Laws of 1875, ch. 209. 

The proceedings for such consolidation are fully 
and minutely set forth at pages 59 and 60, and are 
applicable, except that the approval of the presby- 
terv must be first obtained. 



Change of Time of any Election and Term of 

Office. 

Any society may, by a majority of voices, change 
the day fixed for the election of trustees, and alter 
the dates on which their terms of office shall begin 
and end. 

But notice of a meeting, called for that purpose, 
shall be given in the same manner as that prescribed 
as hereinbefore stated for the election of trustees, 
and the meetings conducted in the same manner. 
The entry of the proceedings by the clerk on his 
minutes will be a sufficient evidence of the alteration. 

This action, however, shall not affect trustees 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 147 

already elected, or permit an election for a longer 

period than three years. 

Laws of 1875, ch. 79, § 1. 

Bequest or Devise to. 

Any religious society may take or receive, by 

bequest or devise, any real or personal property the 

net annual income of which shall not exceed twelve 

thousand dollars. 

Laws of 1875, ch. 79, § 3. 

But this provision is subject to the limitation 
imposed by the Laws of i860, ch. 360, which provides 
that no person having a husband, wife, child, or 
parent, shall devise or bequeath to any religious 
society, in trust or otherwise, more than one-half 
his estate after the payment of his debts. 

Now, however, by the Laws of 1889, ch. 191, any 
religious corporation may hold property worth two 
million dollars, and yielding an income of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars. 

Presbyteries : How Incorporated. 

A presbytery at any stated meeting thereof (that 
is, a meeting duly called in accordance with its con- 
stitution and by-laws) may, by plurality of votes, 
elect any number of discreet persons, not less than 
three or exceeding nine in number, as trustees to 



148 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — PRESBYTERIES. 

take charge of the estate and property belonging 
thereto and to transact all affairs relating to the 
temporalities thereof. 

The moderator should preside at such meetings 
and receive the votes. Immediately after the elec- 
tion the moderator and stated clerk of the presby- 
tery must certify the election of trustees by certifi- 
cate substantially as follows : 

Form of Certificate. 

To whom it may concern : 

Know ye that we, John Doe, Moderator, and Richard Roe, 
Stated Clerk of the Rochester Presbytery {giving its title), do 
hereby certify and return that at a stated meeting of said Pres- 
bytery, duly called and held at , in said city, on the 

day of , 1890, the following named persons were elected 

as trustees for such presbytery, to wit : {Give full names.) 
that the name by which said trustees and their successors 
shall be hereafter named and called shall be the Trustees of 
the Presbytery of (here insert the title). 

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals 

this day of , 1890. 

(Signed,) John Doe, Moderator. [L.S.] 

Richard Roe, Stated Clerk, [l.s.] 

State of New York, 



ss 
Monroe County, 

On this day of , 1890, before me the subscriber 

personally appeared John Doe and Richard Roe, to me known 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — PRESBYTERIES. 149 



to be the same persons described in and who executed the 
foregoing certificate, and severally acknowledged that they exe- 
cuted the same. 

, Notary Public. 

The certificate, being recorded by the clerk of a 
county situate wholly or in part within the bounds 
of such presbytery, in the book wherein the clerk 
is required to record certificates of the organization 
of religious societies, shall constitute such trustees 
and their successors a body corporate by the name 
or title expressed in such certificate. 

Laivs of 1875, c h' 38 J > § L 

Their Powers. 

They shall be capable of taking, for religious, 
educational, or charitable purposes, by gift, devise, 
bequest, grant, or purchase, and of holding and dis- 
posing of the same, any real or personal estate held 
for the benefit of any such governing body, or of 
any parish, congregation, society, church, chapel, 
mission, religious, benevolent, educational, or chari- 
table institution, existing or acting under such 
governing body, provided that the net yearly in- 
come received from the said property shall not 
exceed twenty-five thousand dollars. 

Laws of 1875, c h" 3& 1 ) as modified by Laws of 
1876, cfu no. 



15° PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH —PRESBYTERIES. 

They are also vested with power, whenever any 
religious society connected with the presbytery 
shall become extinct, or shall cease to maintain re- 
ligious services therein for two consecutive years, 
for any cause, to take possession of its temporali- 
ties, to manage and dispose of the same, and apply 
the proceeds thereof to any of the objects of the 
organization, religious or charitable. 

The presbytery to which the society belongs shall 
determine when such society has become extinct, 
but no society having more than thirteen resident 
members shall be declared extinct unless it has 
failed for two consecutive years to maintain relig- 
ious services. 

Any service, however, in a single year within the 
presbytery by such society would preserve its exist- 
ence. 

Office of Trustees. 

The trustees are a close corporation, and continue 
in office until death or resignation, and fill any va- 
cancy which may occur in their body. 

Power of Trustees of the Church Society to 
Acquire Lands for Cemetery Purposes. 

Any incorporated religious society which now 
has, or may hereafter acquke, lands for the purpose 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — PRESBYTERIES. 151 

of a burial-place or cemetery may sell lots or plats 
therein, upon such terms as may be agreed upon, 
and subject to such conditions and restrictions as 
may be imposed on them by the rules of the cor- 
poration. The conveyance, however, must be exe- 
cuted under the common seal of the corporation 
and signed by a majority of the trustees. 

Laws of 1 88 1, ch. 501. 

But no mortgage on said cemetery shall be made, 
or any body removed, without the consent in writ- 
ing of three-fourths of the congregation duly ac- 
knowledged. 

Parsonages — Trustees for. 

Chapter 408 of the Laws of 1875 provides that 
where a minister shall serve two or more societies 
it shall be lawful for any society, so constituted, 
to own a lot or lots, or a farm, with such buildings 
thereon as it may deem proper for the use of such 
minister. 

It also makes provision for the election by any 
such society of three trustees to hold the title to 
such property for its use. The statute prescribes 
minutely the mode of electing such trustees. 

The event contemplated is of so rare occurrence, 
however, that I omit the minntice. 



152 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH FREE CHURCHES. 

Free Churches and Chapels. 

By the Laws of 1867, chapter 657, religious cor- 
porations are authorized to purchase and hold 
grounds in the village, town, or city in which their 
church-edifice is located, for the purpose of erecting 
free churches and chapels and parsonages, schools 
and chapels therefor, mission houses for the poor, 
free hospitals and asylums for the sick, aged, and 
indigent, and dispensaries for the poor ; notwith- 
standing any restriction contained in their charter 
or in the act under which they are incorporated. 

The trustees of the society shall take charge of 
them ; and the seats and pews in every such church 
or chapel shall be entirely free for the use during 
public worship of all orderly persons ; and no rent 
or charge or exaction shall ever be required of such 
persons. 

But they shall not, by their attendance in such 
free churches or chapels, become voters or acquire 
any rights in the parent church. 

Error in Deed. 

Chapter 459 of the Laws of 1888 provides that in 
all cases where there shall be an error in the desig- 
nation of a church as grantee in a deed of lands, if 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH DISSOLUTION. 153 

it contains the principal words of its title, and the 
corporation has taken possession of the premises, it 
may correct the mistake by a statement made by 
an authorized officer and duly acknowledged, set- 
ting forth the error minutely, and leaving it for 
record with the Clerk of the County. 

Dissolution of Corporation. 

Whenever any religious society shall cease to act 
in its corporate capacity and keep up religious ser- 
vices, it shall be lawful for the Supreme Court of 
this State, upon the application of a majority of the 
trustees incorporated by law, except in the City of 
New York, in case the court shall deem it proper so 
to do, to order and decree a dissolution of such relig- 
ious society, and for that purpose to order and direct 
a sale and conveyance of all property belonging to 
the society, and, after ascertaining and providing for 
the ascertainment and payment of its debts and the 
necessary costs and expenses of the sale, and the 
proceedings to effect it, direct any surplus to be 
devoted to such religious, benevolent, or charitable 
purpose as such trustees may indicate in their peti- 
tion and the said court may approve. 

The application may be made by a petition as 
follows : 



154 presbyterian church — dissolution. 

Supreme Court. 



In the matter 

of 

The application of the Trustees of the First 

Presbyterian Church of , for a d 

solution of said corporation. 



-st y 

is- 



The petition of , all of , in the County of — , 

respectfully represents" that your petitioners constitute a 

majority of the trustees, duly elected, of said Church, 

which is a corporation duly incorporated under and by virtue 

of the laws of this State at ■ aforesaid, on the day of 

, 1 8 — ; that said corporation has ceased to act in its cor- 
porate capacity, and no religious services have been held by it 
since the day of , 18 — , for the reason that its mem- 
bers have been unable to furnish the pecuniary support neces- 
sary for that purpose ; that the said corporation is indebted to 

various persons in the sum of $ , of which a particular 

statement is hereto annexed, marked "Exhibit A," which is 
made part of this petition ; that the situation, condition, and 
estimated value of the property of said corporation is particu- 
larly set forth in Exhibit B, hereto annexed ; that your peti- 
tioners propose, if this Honorable Court shall so direct, to 
devote any surplus remaining- after paying the said indebted- 
ness, the cost of this proceeding, and of the sale of such prop- 
erty, to the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church ; that notice of this application has been published as 
required by law. 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — HOW DISSOLVED. 155 

Wherefore your petitioners pray that a reference may be 
had to ascertain the amount of such indebtedness and for an 
order of the court directing a sale of such property, and that 
the proceeds be applied, first, to the payment of the cost of this 
proceeding and the expenses attending said sale ; second, to 
the payment of said indebtedness, if sufficient for that pur- 
pose : if not, to the payment of the same pro rata ; and, 
third, if there shall be any surplus remaining after such pay- 
ments shall have been fully made, that the same be paid to 
the Treasurer of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions 
located in the City of New York. 

(Names of Trustees.) 
' Dated, 

State of New York, ) 

> ss 
Monroe County, j 

, being duly sworn, says that he is one of the trus- 
tees named in the foregoing petition ; that the same was duly 
signed by a majority of the trustees of said corporation ; and 
that said petition is true, to the knowledge of this deponent, 
except as to the matters therein stated upon information and 
belief, and as to those matters, he believes it to be true. 

Sworn to before me this day of , 1890. 

The petition must be accompanied by proof that 
notice of the time and place of such intended appli- 
cation has been duly published once a week for four 
weeks successively next preceding such application, 



I56 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — PEWS, ETC. 

in a newspaper published in the county where such 
society is located. 

The court may either order a reference to a coun- 
selor of the court to take proof of the facts and cir- 
cumstances mentioned in the petition, which, it 
seems to me, would be the approved practice, or 
may at once make an order in accordance with the 
prayer of the petition, appointing a suitable person 
referee, to make the sale, and directing the applica- 
tion of the proceeds. If a reference is directed, 
then upon the coming in of the report of the referee 
the sale will be ordered. 

The laws relating to pew T s, to taxation, to public 
worship, and marriage, as set forth in the law of the 
Episcopal Church, are applicable to the Presby- 
terian Church, and I find no reason to change my 
views as therein expressed except as to the age of 
consent, which by the Laws of 1887, ch. 24, was 
changed to eighteen in males and sixteen in 
females. 

It has also been decided at Special Term that the 
rectory of a church is subject to taxation. This is 
contrary to the custom in our larger cities, and to 
the common opinion. The question for more than 
a century remained undecided in this State, although 
opportunities to raise it were frequent and numer- 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — TAXATION. 157 

ous, until 1888, when Judge Vann at the Onondaga 
Special Term, in a very cogent and able opinion, 
determined that a parsonage is not, within the mean- 
ing of the statute, a place of public worship, and 
therefore is subject to taxation. 

People v. Collison, 22 Abb., JV. C, 52. 

Whether this view will be sustained by the higher 
courts seems to me to be still questionable. 



THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 



HISTORY. 



The Baptist Church, in the early history of this 
State, can be hardly said to have had within its ter- 
ritory an existence. Popery and prelacy were not 
more odious to the Scotch Covenanters than was the 
name of Anabaptist or Baptist to the dominant 
religions in this State prior to the Revolution. A 
few devout worshipers met occasionally to worship 
God according to their own tenets, but only as out- 
laws and at the risk of such humiliation as few men 
can endure. A church which now numbers in the 
United States nearly, if not quite, four millions, and 
which is second to no other in usefulness and in the 
grandeur and beneficence of its educational and 
benevolent institutions, was then composed of only 
a handful of brave men who dared to express their 
allegiance to its faith at the cost of all that the 
world holds dear. People complain now of the cost 



l6o BAPTIST CHURCH — HISTORY. 

of church membership, with all its comforts and 
privileges. How much it cost a Baptist, in colonial 
days, to worship in the way of his fathers, even in a 
barn, a few incidents will show. 

In November, 1656, William Hallett, Sheriff of 
Flushing, had permitted one William Wickenden to 
address a few believers at the sheriff's house, upon 
the concerns of the soul, and had himself received 
from the preacher the Lord's supper. For this, 
Hallett was removed from office, fined what was in 
that day an enormous sum — fifty pounds ; and, being 
unable to pay it, was banished from the colony. 
Wickenden, although his preaching had been con- 
fined to a private house, was subjected to a fine, and 
also banished. 

September 21, 1662, the Dutch authorities passed 
an ordinance, from which the following is an ex- 
tract : " They prohibit and interdict as yet, that 
besides the Reformed worship and service no con- 
venticles or meetings shall be kept in this prov- 
ince, whether it be in houses, barns, ships, barks, 
nor in the woods nor fields, upon forfeiture of 
fifty guldens for the first offense for every person, 
whether man, woman, or child, that shall have been 
present at such prohibited meetings, and twice as 
much for every person, whether it be man, woman, 



BAPTIST CHURCH HISTORY. f6l 

or child, that has exhorted or taught in such pro- 
hibited meetings, or shall have lent his house, barn, 
or any place for the purpose." 

The first Baptist church in the city of New York 
was organized in 1724. It consisted of twenty-four 
members in its palmiest days; but, after an exist- 
ence of eight years, its members were unable to 
sustain it, and disbanded. 

The first church having an enduring existence, 
and which is now strong and flourishing, was the 
First Baptist Church, organized in New York City 
in 1762. 

During the Revolutionary War it was dispersed, 
its records lost, and its little meeting-house used for 
a horse-stable. When the war commenced the church 
numbered over two hundred members; but when it 
was reorganized in 1782 only thirty-seven of its for- 
mer members could be found. Rev. John Gano, 
who, prior to the struggle, had been the pastor for 
sixteen years, as soon as the church was cleansed 
preached to them from the text, " Who is there left 
among you, that saw this church in her first glory?" 
We are familiar with the text, " Blessed is the man 
who bears the yoke in his youth." Is not this true 
of churches as well as of individuals ? Let the Bap- 
tist Church answer, as she marches along in her 



162 BAPTIST CHURCH — THE CORPORATION. 

grandeur, conquering, and to conquer, the hosts of 
vice, iniquity, and ignorance. From such begin- 
nings has she become an army of four millions, 
fighting, shoulder to shoulder, under the Master's 
banner, against the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
and hastening the coming of that day when within 
the borders of this land all shall be His faithful sol- 
diers and servants unto their life's end. 

How Incorporated. 

The members of the church of full age (twenty- 
one years, meaning those who have been formally 
received into the membership of such church) and 
every person of full age who shall have been for one 
year preceding a paying pew-holder or seat-holder 
in the place of worship of said church, or shall have 
been during said year a yearly paying subscriber for 
the support of said church, may assemble at their 
place of worship and by a majority of the votes of 
such persons elect either three, six, or nine persons 
of such qualified voters as a board of trustees. 

Laws of 1876, ch. 329. 

Females as well as males, if of full age and pos- 
sessing the other qualifications above set forth, may 
vote at such elections. 



BAPTIST CHURCH THE CORPORATION. 163 

The words " yearly paying subscriber " above 
named are new, and, I think, mean that the person 
must have agreed for one year, either by pew-rent, 
pledge, or otherwise, to contribute to the support 
of the church. 

The election must be held in the church, and, I 
think, would be invalid if held elsewhere. Corpora- 
tions, religious as well as secular, are mere creatures 
of the statute, and must in all things comply with 
its provisions. So that the statute, authorizing an 
assembly " at their place of worship," excludes the 
right to hold it elsewhere. 

Notice of the election should be given from the 
pulpit for three successive Sundays next prior to the 
election ; and should be in a form similar to this : 

Notice of Election. 

Notice is hereby given that the lawfully qualified electors of 

this church will assemble in this room, on the day of 

instant, at seven o'clock P.M., for the purpose of elect- 
ing persons to act as trustees of said church, and to 

transact such other business as may come before the meeting. 

Any person present may be selected to preside 
at such meeting, and a secretary and two tellers 
should be selected by vote. As soon as the result 
is announced, the trustees having the highest num. 



164 BAPTIST CHURCH — INCORPORATION. 

ber of votes should prepare a certificate of their 
election, substantially as follows : 

Certificate of Election. 

We, John Doe and Richard Roe, of Rochester, Monroe 
County and State of New York, do respectfully certify and 
return that at a meeting of the members of the Second Baptist 
Church of the City of Rochester, for the purpose of electing 

persons to act as trustees for said church, held therein 

on the day of , 1890, of which notice was given on 

two successive Sundays, as required by law, the said John 
Doe was elected and acted as chairman of said meeting, and 
said Richard Roe acted as secretary thereof; that by the votes 
of a majority of the duly qualified electors of said church the 
following named persons were duly elected such trustees, to 
wit : [Here give full names of persons elected?) ; that it was 
also determined at said meeting that the corporate name or 
title of such trustees should be the " Trustees of the Second 
Baptist Church of the City of Rochester." 

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and 
seals this day of , 1890. 

(Signed,) JOHN Doe, Chairman. [L.S.] 

Richard Roe, Secretary, [l.s.] 



State of New York, 
Monroe County, 



ss. 



On this day of , 1890, before me the subscriber 

personally appeared John Doe and Richard Roe, to me known 
to be the same persons described in and who executed the 



BAPTIST CHURCH INCORPORATION. 165 

foregoing instrument, who, being by me duly sworn, did each 
for himself depose and say that the foregoing certificate is in 
all respects true. 

, Notary Public. 

The statute does not in terms require the ac- 
knowledgment above, but I think the clerk needs it 
for his own guidance, and the certificate is stronger 
as evidence. Upon recording the certificate with 
the Clerk or Register of the County where the 
church is located, such persons become a corpora- 
tion, with precisely the same powers, limitations, 
and duties as the trustees of Presbyterian societies. 
The chapter on the laws governing trustees of that 
religious body is in all things applicable to the 
trustees of Baptist churches, except as hereinafter 
mentioned. 

Their classification is the same, their meetings 
are conducted in the same way, and their authority 
in the management of the temporalities of the 
church precisely similar. The change is but a 
change of name. The trustees so elected shall be 
so divided by lot at the first election that one-third 
of them shall go out of office at the expiration of 
one year, one-third at the end of two years, and 
one-third at the end of three years ; and thereafter 
the term of service of one-third of their number 



l66 BAPTIST CHURCH — POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 

shall expire annually, and their places be filled by a 
new election, called and conducted precisely as 
hereinbefore set forth. 

Whenever a person, elected trustee, shall cease to 
attend and support the worship of said church for 
six consecutive months, the Board of Trustees may 
officially give notice to the church declaring his 
position vacant, and an election to fill the vacancy 
shall be called and conducted in the precise manner 
hereinbefore stated for the election of trustees. 

Laws of 1876, ch. 329, § 7. 

But the trustees have no power to remove a min- 
ister of the church or determine his salary or com- 
pensation ; or to fix or change the times, nature, or 
order of the public or social worship of such church; 
or to sell, alienate, or encumber the property of the 
church, unless such authority is specially conferred 
by said church upon such trustees : and the authority 
to alienate, sell, and encumber the church property 
shall be valid only when approved by a majority 
present at a meeting of persons qualified to vote for 
trustees, which said meeting shall be called and con- 
ducted in the same manner as that for the election 
of trustees. 

The trustees shall hold regular meetings for the 
transaction of business at such time and place as 



BAPTIST CHURCH POWERS OF TRUSTEES. 167 

they may appoint ; special meetings may be called 
by any three of them. A majority of the trustees 
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
business, and a majority of the votes of such quorum 
upon any question pioperly submitted shall deter- 
mine it. 

It must not, however, be forgotten that the trus- 
tees of a corporation have no separate or individual 
authority to bind the corporation, and this although 
the whole number, acting singly, and not collectively 
as a board, should assent to the particular transac- 
tion. The trustees can perform an act binding on 
the corporation only at a meeting of the body at 
which either all are present or all had an opportu- 
nity to be present. Even the written consent of all 
of them to a particular measure, signed and sealed 
by all, would be utterly ineffectual. It is only a 
majority of a quorum of the trustees lawfully con- 
vened who can do a lawful act, or determine any 
question relating to the temporalities of the church. 
People's Bank v. Church, etc., 109 N. Y. R., 522. 

Thus, where at a social meeting of a church soci- 
ety a subscription paper fixing the parson's salary 
was signed by various parties connected with the 
church, and signed by all the trustees with one excep- 
tion, the Court of Appeals refused to sustain this 



l68 BAPTIST CHURCH— THE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION. 

action, and said : " All that was done was by the vol- 
untary action of individuals. The judgment or will 
of a majority of the qualified voters as an aggregate 
body was not ascertained. No question was put to 
them. The proper way to ascertain the wishes of a 
deliberative assembly is by a vote of some kind." 
Sanders v. Meth. Church, 114 N. Y. R., 626. 

The Southern New York Baptist Association. 

In 1 87 1, by chapter 392 of the laws of that year, 
was incorporated the above association, authorized 
to receive, hold, and enjoy any property by virtue 
of devise, bequest, grant, or purchase ; provided the 
annual income of such property shall not exceed 
the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, and that 
the same shall be appropriated to religious, charita- 
ble, missionary, or educational purposes. 

The corporation is a close one, authorized to 
ordain such by-laws and regulations as they shall 
think proper for their government. 

The New York Baptist Association, the Church 
Extension Committee of the Hudson River South 
Baptist Association, and the New York Baptist Sun- 
day-school Union are authorized to merge them- 
selves in it, and to transfer and convey to it their 
property. 



THE REFORMED PROTESTANT 
DUTCH CHURCH; 

SINCE 1869, 

THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



HISTORY. 



THIS is one of the oldest ecclesiastical bodies in 
America. It originated in Holland in 1583, the 
Prince of Orange then proclaiming that he " would 
maintain and promote the Reformed religion and no 
other," and prohibiting the public exercise of the 
Roman religion. Emigrants from Holland, early in 
the seventeenth century, brought it with them to 
the Island of Manhattan. The Classis of Amster- 
dam had charge of it, and commissioned the colo- 
nial clergy. Their first ministers appear to have 
been Jonas Michaelius, who had charge of a parish 
which held its meetings in a loft over a mill, in the 
Island of Manhattan, as early as 1628, and, five 



170 REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH HISTORY. 

years later, Everadus Bogardus, husband of Anet- 
zie Jans, well known to the legal fraternity by rea- 
son of the unsuccessful assault made by her de- 
scendants on the title of Trinity Church. 

Indeed, about the middle of the seventeenth 
century it seems to have been almost the only 
Church in the New Netherlands, as the Directors 
of the West India Company, with the sanction of 
the States-General, enacted in July, 1640, that no 
other religion should be publicly admitted in that 
colony except the Reformed as then preached and 
practiced by public authority in the United Neth- 
erlands ; and for this purpose the company should 
provide and maintain good and sufficient preachers. 

Governor Stuyvesant was the firm advocate and 
zealous conservator of this religious polity, and in 
1656 issued a proclamation forbidding preachers of 
any other doctrine, or called by other ecclesiastical 
authority, to exercise ministerial functions within 
his jurisdiction. A penalty was imposed both on 
the clergyman so offending and upon all attending 
the services conducted by him. The Lutherans, 
even, were forbidden to worship in their own 
churches. All were permitted to worship God in 
their dwellings as their consciences might dictate, 
but in public only in harmony with the established 



REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH — HISTORY. I71 

religion as set forth by the Synod of Dort. The- 
law was enforced with great severity, and its infrac- 
tion, even by public meetings held in the woods, 
was severely punished. So, by a decree of the 
company-in 1673, it was decreed that the Christian 
religion according to that synod should be main- 
tained in all things, without permitting the slight- 
est attempt to be made against it by any other 
sectarians. For a few years it maintained its 
almost exclusive sway on the Island of Manhattan, 
and has ever been a power there. 

The management of the affairs of the church 
seems always to have been vested in the minister 
and elders and deacons, who together constituted its 
trustees, each having an equal voice in its govern- 
ment. The governing power consisted generally 
of four elders and four deacons, elected annually, 
who, with the minister, controlled the temporali- 
ties of the church. 

At an early day each church enjoyed the services 
of two ministers — one whose duty was more par- 
ticularly to preach the word, the other to " serve 
tables;" that is, to visit the parishioners, to minis- 
ter to the sick and afflicted, to bury the dead, and 
oversee the proper distribution of the charities of 
the church. 



172 REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 

In 1869 the name of the religious body was 
changed to The Reformed Church in America. 

Laws of 1869, ch. 197. 

Government. 

The minister or ministers and elders and deacons, 
and during any time if there be no minister then the 
elders and deacons during such time, of every Re- 
formed Protestant Dutch Church or congregation 
elected according to the rules and usages of such 
churches within this State, shall be the trustees for 
every such church or congregation. 

Laws of 1813, ch. 60, § 2. 

How Incorporated. 

The said trustees, if they shall desire corporate 
privileges, may become a corporation by executing a 
certificate certifying the corporate name or title by 
which they desire to be known. The certificate 
must be signed by all the trustees, acknowledged or 
proved before an officer authorized by law to take 
the same, in the manner required to authorize the 
record of a deed. Upon filing such certificate in the 
office of the Clerk of the County where the church 



REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 173 

is located, such trustees shall become a body corpo- 
rate by the name expressed in the certificate. 

Id. 

Form of Certificate. 

Know all men by these presents that we, and — , 

Trustees of St. John's Reformed Church, worshiping in the 
City of Rochester, hereby certify our desire to become a cor- 
poration under the name and title of " St. John's Reformed 
Church of the City of Rochester." 

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and 
seals this day of , 18 — . 

[L.S.] 
[L.S.] 
[L.S.] 
(Form of acknowledgment as on page 94.) 

Trustees incorporated by any act prior to 1813 
may, if they so desire, relinquish their corporate 
organization by filing a like certificate declaring their 
intention not to continue a body corporate. The 
certificate must be acknowledged or proved in the 
same manner as that before mentioned. Its record 
by the Clerk of the County dissolves the corpora- 
tion, and vests the title to its property in the trus- 
tees. The trustees, of course, take it subject to all 
the obligations of the corporation. 

Any of the churches in this State in connection 



174 REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 

with the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church whose 
temporal affairs are under the management of a con- 
sistory, or board of officers elected or chosen from 
such persons only as are in communion with said 
church, may, if the said consistory or board so deter- 
mine, at any time confide the management and care 
of the temporal concerns of the said church to a 
board of trustees, not less than seven nor more than 
nine in number ; and such determination shall be 
reduced to writing and signed by the president and 
secretary or clerk of said board, with the seal of said 
corporation affixed, duly acknowledged by said presi- 
dent, and recorded with the Clerk of the County 
where the church is situated. Thereupon the fol- 
lowing election shall be had. 

Laius of 1835, ch. 90, § 8. 

Election of Trustees : How Conducted. 

The persons entitled to vote are males of full age, 
who have been stated attendants on public worship 
in said church for more than one year, and have 
contributed to its support according to the usages 
and customs thereof. They must have been regu- 
lar in their attendance on divine worship and 
habitual contributors to its support during all that 
period. They must meet at a time and place ap- 



REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 175 

pointed for that purpose by the consistory, and by 
plurality of votes select from duly qualified electors 
of the church not less than seven nor more than 
nine persons, to be its first trustees, who shall have 
charge of its estate and property and transact all 
affairs relating to the temporalities thereof. It will 
be observed that the trustees are not qualified for 
election unless for more than one year they have 
contributed to the church their personal presence at 
its worship and their money for its support, whether 
by way of pew-rent, pledge, or Sunday offering. 
These qualifications can neither be abridged nor 
extended by any act of the trustees or of the cor- 
porators, but every person thus qualified has an 
incontestable right to vote at the election of trus- 
tees. 

People v. Philips, 1 Den., 398. 

Election : How Conducted. 

Notice of the time and place must be given dur- 
ing divine service in the church on at least two 
days on which worship shall be statedly held 
therein next previous to the time of such election. 
It would be better to give the notice, which should 
distinctly specify the hour and place of holding the 



176 REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 

election, and the time during which the polls will 
be open, on two Sundays next before the day men- 
tioned in such notice. But it would be doubtless 
sufficient at two week-day services habitually held 
in said church. 

Laws of 1835, ch. 90. 

The election must be conducted under the super- 
vision of three inspectors appointed by the consis- 
tory, by written appointment, and at a regular 
meeting thereof, whose duty it is to preside at the 
election and receive the votes of the electors. They 
are by statute judges of the qualifications of voters, 
although the law will compel them to exercise a 
reasonable discretion in that matter. It is also 
their duty to certify in writing, and return to the 
consistory, the names of the persons so elected, 
and to notify in writing the successful candidates of 
their election. 

Classification. 

Immediately after the election the trustees must 
be divided into three equal classes, as near as may 
be ; if nine are chosen, into three each ; if eight, 
into two classes of three and one of two ; if seven, 
into two classes of two and one of three. These 



REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 177 

classes shall be numbered respectively one, two, 
and three, who shall draw lots to determine the 
duration of their office— the first named holding 
office for one year, the second for two years, and 
the third for three years. The trustees, or a ma- 
jority of them, shall, at least one month before the 
expiration of the office of any class, notify the same 
in writing to the minister, if there be one ; if none, 
or if he is absent, to the elders ; and in case there 
shall be no elders, then to the deacons, specifying 
the names of the trustees whose terms will expire. 
The minister shall thereupon give the notice above 
required, and the vacancies shall be filled by an 
election as above specified, and to be held at least 
six days before the expiration of such term. 

A vacancy occasioned by death or removal from 
the town where the church is located must be filled 
in the same way. 

Meetings 

must be conducted in the same way as those held 
in the Episcopal Church (page 42), and upon like 
notice. A majority of the trustees must be present, 
to constitute a quorum, and one of the number, who 
at their first meeting shall be chosen president, 
must preside. 



178 REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 

Powers. 

They have full power over the temporalities of 
the church, and may manage and control its secular 
business. There is but one limit to their author- 
ity, and that relates to the calling of a clergyman. 
They may fix his salary, but may not call him 
except with the concurrence of the consistory. 
All property of the church vests in them, and may 
be transferred by them, exept only the " Deacon's 
Fund," which is subject to the control of the consis- 
tory. Of course, the real estate can only be sold by 
order of the court in accordance with the same rules 
before prescribed for the Episcopal Church (page 47). 
A president should be appointed at the first meet- 
ing, and a secretary or clerk. 

The president must perform the usual duties of a 
presiding officer, and the secretary shall keep min- 
utes of the meetings, and preserve the records of 
the church. 

Change of Name. 

If the trustees think it proper to change the cor- 
porate name of said church, they may do so by pass- 
ing, at a regular meeting, a resolution to that effect. 
Then the president shall prepare a certificate certi- 



REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 179 

fying such resolution, sign it as president of the 
Board of Trustees ; acknowledge it before an au- 
thorized officer, and record it in the office of the 
County Clerk. Thereupon, such corporation shall 
be known and distinguished by the corporate name 
and style that may have been determined upon, and 
expressed in said certificate. 

Form of Certificate. 

To whom it may concern : 

Know ye that I, John Doe, President of the Board of Trus- 
tees of the First Reformed Dutch Church in the City of Roch- 
ester, do hereby certify that at a meeting of said Board of 
Trustees, duly called and regularly held at said city, on the 

day of , 1890, it was unanimously determined by 

said board, by the lawful vote thereof, to change the name of 
the church aforesaid to " St. John's Reformed Church of Roch- 
ester, N. Y." 

Witness my hand as such president, this day of , 

1890. 

(Form of acknowledgment as heretofore given.) 

The Consistory. 

The consistory, where the temporal management 
of the church is intrusted to the trustees, has charge 
only of the spiritual affairs of the congregation, 
the administering of the sacraments, a joint voice 



l8o REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. 

with the trustees in the call of a minister, and the 
direction of all matters of church discipline as to 
receiving and the expulsion of members. 

The elders and deacons who, with the minister, 
constitute the consistory, hold office two years, one- 
half of them being elected annually, at such time 
and place as may be determined by the constitution 
of the society. But they can be ordained only after 
notice of their election has been published in the 
church for three successive Sundays, at the ordinary 
time for giving notices, in order that all lawful 
objections to such ordination may be heard and 
considered by the consistory. 

To constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
business, a majority of ministers and elders, and also 
a majority of deacons, must be present. 

The minister shall preside at all consistory meet- 
ings, but in his absence the consistory may appoint 
one of the elders to be their president pro tern. 
They may prescribe the mode and time of calling 
their meetings, and, if there be a plurality of minis- 
ters, they shall preside in rotation. I suppose that 
by presiding in rotation, is meant that they shall 
preside alternately. When joined in one board, the 
elders and deacons have an equal voice in all that 
relates to the temporalities of the church and to 



REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH. l8l 

the calling of a minister ; but in admitting members 
to full communion, in exercising discipline upon 
those who have erred from the faith, or offended in 
morals, and in choosing delegates to attend the 
classis, the elders and ministers only have a vote. 



THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH. 



This great body, so far as the statute law of this 
State is concerned, is subject to the same regula- 
tions as the Presbyterian Church. It is incorporated 
in the same way, except that its Book of Doctrines 
and Discipline contains a provision, which seems to 
me worthy of all praise, that two-thirds of the trus- 
tees shall be members of that body, meaning thereby, 
as I understand it, persons who shall have been 
formally received into its fellowship. 

Book of Discipline, § 323. 

The mode of election of trustees and the filling of 

vacancies is the same as that hereinbefore pointed 

out for the Presbyterian Church. 

Id., § 324. 

The Book of Discipline makes provision for the 
repayment of money advanced or paid by a trustee 



184 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH CORPORATION 

or trustees, for the use of the congregation, enabling 
them, after giving one year's notice to the pastor to 
that effect, to raise the amount by mortgage on the 
church property or by the sale thereof ; the surplus, 
after paying the debt, to be paid to the Annual Con- 
ference for the use of the Church. If the congrega- 
tion erect a new church within five years, then the 
surplus shall be paid to them. 

§ 327- 

The sale, however, must be made as hereinbefore 
provided for the conveyance of church property by 
order of the court. The sale, too, must be a matter 
of right on the part of the trustees, and not require 
the consent of a majority of the qualified voters of 
the congregation, as they, of course, upon joining the 
Church, become subject to its Discipline. 

Corporations to Secure Camp-grounds. 

The presiding elder of any district, or the presid- 
ing elders of any number of districts, and a majority 
of the district stewards of any district or districts, 
appointed according to the discipline of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, residing in any ecclesiastical 
district or districts in this State, erected by an annual 
conference of said Church as a presiding elder's dis- 



METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 1 85 

trict or districts, may make, sign, and acknowledge, 
before some officer competent to take the acknowl- 
edgment of deeds, and file in the office of the clerk 
of any county in such district or districts, and a 
duplicate thereof in the office of the Secretary of 
State, a certificate in writing, in which shall be stated 
the names, residence, and official relation to the dis- 
trict of the persons signing said certificate, the num- 
ber of trustees not less than nine nor more than 
twenty-one, and shall specify the names of the per- 
sons as trustees to manage the affairs of the corpo- 
ration. The said trustees thereupon become a body 
corporate. 

Laws of 18 7 4, ch. 26, as amended by ch. 352, Laws 

Form of Certificate. 

To all to whom these presents do come : 

Know ye that we, , of the City of New York ; , 

of the City of Newark, in the State of New Jersey ; and , 

of the town of , in the State of , presiding elders 

of the Second General Conference (or other') District ; and 

, of , and , of , who constitute a 

majority of the district stewards of said district, each of whom 
was duly appointed such presiding- elder or steward, according 
to the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, do hereby 
certify that we desire to create and form a corporation for the 



l86 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

purpose of securing camp-grounds and other property con- 
nected therewith, for the use of said Church, in pursuance of 
chapter 26 of the Laws of 1874, and the act amendatory 
thereof; that the number of trustees to manage the affairs of 
said corporation are twenty-one ; that the names of the trus- 
tees to serve until others shall be elected in their places are 
as follows : 

{Name them.) 

that the name of said corporation shall be " The Trustees of 
the Second General Conference District of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church to acquire Lands and Other Property for the 
Use of said Church." 

Witness our hands and seals this day of , 1890. 

(Form of acknowledgment as ante.) 

Classification. 

The said trustees shall be divided by lot into 
three classes, the first class to hold their office one 
year, the second class for two years, and the third 
class three years. 

Constitution. 

The first duty of the trustees shall be to adopt a 
constitution, which shall prescribe rules and regula- 
tions for the government thereof and for the elec- 
tion of trustees and its officers. One-third of the 
trustees shall be annually elected, and vacancies 



METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 187 

filled in such a manner as the constitution may pre- 
scribe. 

When the camp-grounds proposed to be selected 
by the corporation are situated on or near the bor- 
ders of our State, persons without the State may be 
permitted to join as members and be eligible to 
office. 

When the number of the trustees does not exceed 
nine, or no constitution is adopted by the corpora- 
tion, prescribing its trustees and officers, then the 
district stewards of any presiding elder's district, at 
their annual meeting, may appoint trustees and offi- 
cers and fill vacancies. When two or more districts 
join in such corporation, the district stewards of 
each district, at the annual meeting, may appoint 
their equal proportion of said trustees ; but if they 
cannot become equally divided, then the districts 
in which the camp-grounds are located may appoint 
such trustees. 

Privileges of Such Corporation. 

In addition to the privileges conferred on all cor- 
porations, the trustees may hold property whose 
income shall not exceed $25,000 per year, as a 
camp-ground for camp-meeting purposes, may sell 
and convey the same, from time to time, and 



l88 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

invest the proceeds for such use as the trustees 
with the approval of the Annual Conference may 
direct. 

The trustees may act as peace-officers, with all the 
powers conferred in the act relating to the disturb- 
ance of religious meetings. {Ante, page 85.) 

When the association owns land on any of the 
navigable waters of the State, to be used for camp- 
grounds purposes only, it shall have power to regu- 
late the landing of persons on such wharves, piers, 
or shore during the conducting of religious services, 
and prohibit the use of the same during such ser- 
vices. 

Except as we have already stated, the statute 
law and forms of the Presbyterian Church, herein- 
before detailed, will exactly apply to the Method- 
ist Church. The chapters hereinbefore contained, 
in the law of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
relating to marriage, taxation, public worship, and 
the power of the trustees over the real estate of 
the corporation, are also applicable in their full 
scope, and, names being changed, in their minutest 
detail. 



YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSO- 
CIATIONS. 



How Incorporated. 



Any twenty or more persons, being citizens and 
residents of this State, and having associated them- 
selves as a Young Men's Christian Association for 
the improvement of the spiritual, mental, social, and 
physical condition of young men, by the support 
and maintenance of lecture-rooms, libraries, reading- 
rooms, religious and social meetings, gymnasiums, 
and such other means and services as may conduce 
to the accomplishment of that object, according to 
the general rules and regulations of the State Exec- 
utive Committee of the Young Men's Christian 
Associations of this State, may make, sign, and ac- 
knowledge, before any officer authorized to take 
acknowledgments of deeds in this State, and, with 
the written consent and approbation of one of the 
Justices of the Supreme Court, file in the office of 
the Secretary of State, and also in the office of the 



IOO YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. 

Clerk of the County in which said society is to have 
its principal office, a certificate in writing in which 
shall be stated the object of such association, to be 
that above set forth, the place wherein the principal 
office is to be located, the number and names of the 
directors or managers of such association for the 
first year of its existence, and also the names of six 
trustees, who, together with the president of the 
association, shall form a board of trustees to hold 
and control the real property of such association. 

Laws of 1887, c h 5 OI « 

The persons desiring to form the corporation 
should first associate themselves by signing a paper 
substantially as follows : 

We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Rochester, 
Monroe County and State of New York, have associated our- 
selves as a Young Men's Christian Association for the im- 
provement of the spiritual, mental, social, and physical con- 
dition of young men, by the support and maintenance of 
lecture-rooms, libraries, reading-rooms, religious and social 
meetings, gymnasiums, and such other means and services as 
may conduce to that purpose according to the general rules 
and regulations of the State Executive Committee of the 
Young Men's Christian Associations of the State of New York. 

Witness our hands this day of , 1890. 

(To be signed by twenty or more citizens^) 



YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. 191 



Form of Certificate of Incorporation. 

Know all men by these presents, 

That we {here name twenty or more persons), citizens of 

the United States, who did on this day of ■, 1890, 

associate ourselves as a Young Men's Christian Association 
for the improvement of the spiritual, mental, social, and physi- 
cal condition of young men, by the support and maintenance 
of lecture-rooms, libraries, reading-rooms, religious and social 
meetings, gymnasiums, and such other means and services as 
may conduce to the accomplishment of that object, according 
to the general rules and regulations of the State Executive 
Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association of this 
State, for the purpose of organizing a corporation under and 
by virtue of chapter 501 of the Laws of 1887, do hereby cer- 
tify and declare that the object of such corporation shall be 
the improvement of the spiritual, mental, social, and physical 
condition of young men in the manner and by the means 
hereinbefore stated ; that the place where the principal office 
is to be located is Rochester, Monroe County, New York ; 
that the number of the directors or managers of such associa- 
tion, for the first year of its existence, shall be {here state the 
number) composed of the following named persons {here 
name thein) ; that the names of the six trustees, who, together 
with the president of the association, shall form a board of 
trustees to hold and control the real property of such associa- 
tion, are the following {here naine six trustees) ; that the 
name of such corporation shall be " The Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association of Rochester, N. Y." 



102 YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. 

Witness our hands this clay of , 1890. 

{Twenty persons, at /east, to sign here and to acknowledge 
before a notary public or other qualified person.) 

Upon the certificate should be indorsed by a 
Judge of the Supreme Court as follows: 

"I hereby consent to and approve the within certificate and 
the formation of the corporation therein named. 

" .Judge.S. C." 

Dated, 

The managers named in the certificate should at 
once organize by the election of a president and 
secretary, and adopt for their guidance a constitu- 
tion and by-laws. 

The Trustees 

hold office until the appointment of their succes- 
sors, and for such terms as their own by-laws may 
prescribe, and by a majority vote may fill any 
vacancy in their board. Each of them must be a 
member of one of the Protestant Evangelical de- 
nominations, but not more than two of such mem- 
bers, exclusive of the president, shall belong to any 
one denomination. 

The trustees hold the real property of the associ- 
ation, but its management is intrusted to the board 



YOUNG MEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. 193 

of directors. It may not be sold or mortgaged 
without the consent of the association itself, as 
manifested by a majority vote of all its members. 
It is not liable for any debt, unless it shall have 
been contracted with the approval of the Board of 
Trustees. 

The income of the association may not be di- 
verted to any other use than that named in its 
certificate of incorporation, and shall be paid to its 
treasurer. 

Corporate Powers. 

1st. By filing the certificate as before said, the 
association becomes a body politic by the name 
mentioned in said certificate, having succession and 
the right to sue and be sued. 

2d. To use a common seal {vide page 19, ante), and 
alter the same at will. 

3d. To take, hold, and purchase real estate for 
the purposes of their incorporation, but for no other 
purpose. 

4th. To make by-laws for the management of 
such corporation. 

5th. To elect and appoint the officers and agents 
of such corporation for the management of its busi- 
ness, and to allow them a suitable compensation. 



194 YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. 

Sale of Real Estate, etc. 

The Supreme Court, upon the application of 
three-fourths of the trustees, may make an order 
for the leasing or sale and conveyance of the real 
estate of the corporation, and direct the application 
of the proceeds to such uses as the court may deem 
most for the benefit of the corporation. 

Laws of 1 86 1, ch. 58, made applicable by Laws of 
1889, ch. S3- 



CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 



How Incorporated. 

Any Congregational church may be incorporated 

as follows: 

ist. Notice 

of a meeting to elect any number of trustees, not 
less than three nor more than nine, shall be given at 
the time of divine service on three successive Sun- 
days next before the election, and at least fifteen 

days prior thereto. 

Laws of 1885, c h- 2 °8« 
Laws of 1873, ch. 633. 

2d. The Meeting 

shall be held in the church. The minister, or one 
of the church officers, or if there be no minister or 
officer, then an elector, qualified to vote at such elec- 
tion, called by a majority of voices to the chair, shall 
preside, and a secretary shall be chosen in the same 
manner. 



196 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 

3d. Voters 

must have the same qualifications as those herein- 
before defined at page 1 14. A plurality of votes 
shall elect. 

4th. Certificate. 

After the vote shall have been announced, a cer- 
tificate of the result shall be prepared in substan- 
tially the following form : 

Form of Certificate. 

To whom it may concern : 

Know ye that we, John Doe and Richard Roe, both of 
Rochester, Monroe County and State of New York, do 
respectfully certify and report : 

1st. That at a meeting- of the duly qualified electors of 
Plymouth Avenue Congregational Church, located in Roch- 
ester aforesaid, called in the manner required by law for the 

purpose of electing trustees of said corporation, of 

which said meeting notice was given in said church during 
divine service for three successive Sundays next preceding the 
same, said John Doe was, by a plurality of votes, elected chair- 
man of said meeting, and said Richard Roe secretary thereof ; 
that by a majority of legal votes cast at said meeting- the fol- 
lowing persons were elected such trustees, to wit : 

{Name them?) 

2d. That the name or title by which said trustees desire to 
be designated, and which they have adopted as their corporate 



CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 197 

name, is the "Trustees of the Plymouth Avenue Congrega- 
tional Church in the City of Rochester." 

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and 
seals this day of , 1890. 

Meetings 

are held as the trustees may provide. Any three 
of them may call a special meeting, and a majority 
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
business. A majority of such quorum may decide 
any question presented to them relating to the 
temporalities of the church. 

Of Vacancies. 

Whenever a trustee, by removal or otherwise, 
ceases to be a member of such church, or, if not a 
member, ceases to attend or support its worship, he 
shall at the same time cease to act as trustee, and 
his place shall be declared vacant by an official 
notice of the board of trustees to the church, and a 
new election shall be ordered to fill such vacancy. 
The election shall be conducted in precisely the 
same way as that hereinbefore stated, except that 
no certificate is needed, the secretary entering the 
result of the election in his minutes. 



198 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 

Except as above stated, the treatise hereinbefore 
contained as to the law of the Presbyterian Church 
will apply in all respects to the Congregational 
body. 

By the Laws of 1890, ch. 66, the members of 
this Church are permitted to make such rules as 
they may deem expedient for their own govern- 
ment ; and at any annual meeting may change the 
qualifications of the members and voters of such 
society by prescribing that all elections, resolutions, 
and votes shall be determined by a majority of the 
members of the Church in good and regular stand- 
ing according to its Rules and Discipline. Notice of 
the intention to consider or make such change shall 
be included in the notice of such annual meeting. 



THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



How Incorporated. 

Any Roman Catholic church may be incorpo- 
rated as follows : The Roman Catholic archbishop 
or bishop of the diocese in which such church may 
be erected or intended so to be, the vicar-general of 
such diocese, and the pastor of said church, for the 
time being, respectively, or a majority of them, may 
appoint two laymen, members of said church, and 
may, together with such laymen, sign a certificate 
in duplicate, showing the name or title by which 
they and their successors shall be known and dis- 
tinguished as a body corporate by virtue of this act, 
which certificates shall be duly acknowledged or 
proved in the same manner as conveyances of real 
estate ; and one of such certificates shall be filed in 
the office of the Secretary of State, and the other 
in the office of the Clerk of the County in which 
such church may be erected or intended so to be ; 



200 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

and thereupon such church or congregation shall be 
a body corporate, by the name or title expressed in 
such certificate; and the said persons so signing the 
same shall be the trustees thereof. The successors 
of such archbishop, bishop, vicar-general, or pastor, 
respectively, for the time being, shall, by virtue of 
his office, be the trustee of such church, in place of 
his predecessor ; and such laymen shall hold their 
office respectively for one year, and whenever the 
office of any such layman shall become vacant by 
death, removal, resignation, or otherwise, his suc- 
cessor shall be appointed in the same manner as 
above provided for his original selection. 

Laws of 1863, ch. 45. 

Form of Certificate. 

We, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese , of ; 



John Doe, vicar-general of said diocese and pastor of St. 

Mary's Church, Rochester ; and , both of the City of 

Rochester, County of Monroe, lay members of said St. Mary's 
Church, do respectfully certify that said lay members were 
duly appointed by said bishop and vicar-general to act with 

them as trustees of said church. for the year ending , 

1890; that we desire to be incorporate under the name and 
title of St. Mary's Church, in said City of Rochester, by which 
we and our successors shall be known and distinguished as a 
body corporate. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 2GT 

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 
day of , 1890. 

(Form of acknowledgment as before.) 

Such trustees shall have the power to fix the 
salary to be paid to the pastor or assistant pastor, 
and, in addition, possess all the powers conferred 
upon trustees of the religious bodies hereinbefore 
named. 

They may also hold property worth two million 
dollars, but the yearly income shall not exceed one 
hundred thousand dollars. 

Laws of 1889, ch. 191. 



THE GREEK CHURCH. 



Any church or congregation of the " Christian 
Orthodox Catholic Church of the Eastern Confes- 
sion " may be incorporated as follows : 

The Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary of Russia to the United States and the Con- 
sul-General of Russia to the United States, then ac- 
knowledged and received as such by the Government 
of the United States, may sign a certificate in dupli- 
cate showing the name or title by which they and 
their successors shall be known and distinguished as 
a body corporate by virtue of this act. The certifi- 
cate shall be acknowledged or proved in the mode 
hereinbefore set forth for other certificates of incor- 
poration. One of such certificates shall be filed in 
the office of the Clerk of the County where the 
church is, or is to be, located, and the other in the 
office of the Secretary of State. 

Thereupon the Minister Plenipotentiary and Con- 
sul-General, and their successors in office, become 
trustees of such church. 



204 GREEK CHURCH. 

It is a little remarkable that the representatives 
of the Russian Government should, in addition to 
their other duties, be also the trustees of all the 
Greek churches in this State. It is evident that if 
that religious body ever gains a foothold in this 
country, the statute will have to be changed, as it 
would be impossible for the minister and consul to 
act as such trustees. 

They, as well as the vestry of the Episcopal Church 
and trustees of the Roman Catholic Church, are em- 
powered to fix the salary of the pastor and assistant 
pastor of the church. 

In all other religious bodies, however, the salary 
of the clergyman is fixed by a majority of the mem- 
bers of the church, or, rather, " of the persons entitled 
to elect trustees ; " but this action of the congrega- 
tion must be ratified by the trustees. 

Laws of 1813, ch. 60, § 8. 



INDEX. 



A. 

Advantages of incorporation, I. 

Age at which marriage may be contracted, 9O0 

Albany, Board of Missions of Diocese of, 74. 

Assistant minister, 35. 

" Associate rector " an exceptional office, 36. 

Attendance at church to qualify elector, 13. 

B. 

Book to be kept by rector, 15. 



Call to rector, how extended, 27. 
Certificate of incorporation, 93. 

How executed, n. 

Form of, 93. 
Certificate of marriage, when required, 90. 

Form of, 107. 
Certificate of election, 15. 

Mode of execution, 15. 

Form of, 95. 
Central New York, Trustees of Diocese, 66, 
Change of name, how effected, 57. 
Choir under rector's control, 35. 
Church property managed by vestry, 20. 
Church buildings controlled by rector, 33. 



206 INDEX. 

Consolidation of corporations, 59. 

How effected, 60. 

Agreement for, 59. 

Petition for, 60. 

Order for, 60. 

Form of petition and order, 101. 
Congregation, when to be consulted, 57. 
Conveyance of realty, when authorized, 47. 

How made, 48. 

Forms for, III. 

D. 

Deposition, when rector may require, 89. 

Form of, 108. 
Dismissal of minister instituted by congregation only, 29. 
Duty of rector in general, 37. 

As to marriage, 88. 

As presiding officer at first meeting, 6. 

E. 

Election of wardens and vestrymen, 13. 

When held, 14. 

Where held, 5. 

How conducted, 6. 

Notice of, 13. 

Form of notice, 95. 

Who may vote at, 13. 

First. See Incorporation. 

Special to fill vacancies, 17. 
Enforcement of right of freedom of worship, 83. 
Evidence, return of rector as, 15. 

F. 

Form of certificate of marriage, 107. 

Election, 95. 

Incorporation, 93. 
Form of petition to change name, 

Order to change name, 96. 



INDEX. 207 



Form of petition to sell realty, 98. 
Order to sell realty, 100. 
Petition to consolidate parishes, 103. 
Agreement to consolidate parishes, 101. 
Order to consolidate parishes, 104. 
Petition to change number of vestrymen, 56. 
Order to change number of vestrymen, 106. 
Notice of first meeting, 97. 
Notice of subsequent meeting, 95. 
Lease of pew, 50. 
Conveyance of land, 100. 



Guaranty of religious worship by constitution, 
Good faith required of vestrymen, 23. 

I. 

Incorporation of parish, 1. 

How effected, n. 

How noticed, 12. 

Advantages of, 1. 

Who may be corporators, 3. 
Illegal votes, receipt of, 8. 

When will not vitiate election, 8. 

L. 

Lands, sale of, by vestry when ordered, 47. 
Proceedings for that purpose, 48. 
Power to petition belongs to vestry, 49. 
What will authorize conveyance, 47. 
Must be for interest of corporation, 47. 
How authorized, 47. 
Petition for that purpose, 48. 
Its contents, 48. 
How varied, 48. 
Form of petition, 98. 
Form of order, 100. 
Form of conveyance, ill. 



208 INDEX. 

M. 
Majority of vestrymen, what constitutes, 41. 
Marriage, must be according to church forms, 88. 

Rector's duty in respect to, 89. 

What he must ascertain, 89. 

Duty of caution, 89. 

Book to be kept, 89. 

Deposition may be required, 89. 

Form of, 108. 

When celebration a misdemeanor, 90. 

Certificate to be furnished, 90. 

Form of, 107. 

Age at which marriage may be contracted, 92. 
Meetings of vestry. See Vestry Meetings. 

For incorporation, when and how held, 6. 
Mortgage, power of vestry to mortgage lands, 48. 

N. 

Name, change of, how accomplished, 57. 
Notice of meeting for incorporation, 4. 

Elections, 13. 

Vestry meetings, 38. 

Special election, 17. 
Number of vestrymen, how changed, 56. 

Resolution to be submitted to electors, 56. 

Proceedings, how conducted, 56. 

Forms for, 106. 

O. 

Offence of disturbing religious worship defined, 85. 

Office of wardens and vestrymen lasts until successors elected, 11. 

P. 

Polls, how long kept open, 10. 
Posting of notice for first meeting, 4. 
Powers of rector, 27. 

Trustees of Parochial Fund, W. N. Y., 64. 

Trustees of Diocese of Albany, 74. 

Trustees of Diocese of Central N. Y., 66. 



INDEX. 



209 



Powers of trustees of Diocese of Long Island, 76. 

Vestry to call rector, 18. 

Vestry to fix his salary, 18. 

Vestry to use common seal, 19. 

Vestry to sue and be sued, 21. 

Vestry over temporalities, 21. 

Vestry to make rules, 24. 

Vestry to appoint minor officers, 22. 

Vestry to petition to sell realty, 48. 
Pews under control of vestry, 49. 

How rented, 50. 

Short form of lease, 50. 

Rights of pew owner, 51. 

His interest usufructuary only, 51. 

His right gone if alteration of church requires demolition 
of pew, 52. 

When his rights will be protected, 54. 

How conveyed, 51. 

Nature of his interest, 54. 

A right to occupy only, 51. 

Q. 

Qualifications of electors at first meeting, 3. 

Electors after meetings, 13. 

Wardens, 11. 

Vestrymen, 11. 
Questions to be submitted at first meeting, 9. 
Quorum, what constitutes, 40. 

R. 

Realty. See Lands. 

Rector, the, constituent part of vestry, 27. 
Powers of, at first meeting, 6. 
Powers of, at subsequent meetings, 27. 
Powers of at vestry meetings, 27. 
Right to vote, 31. 
Called for life, 27. 
Salary may not be diminished, 29. 



2IO INDEX. 

Rector, the, power over church buildings, 33. 

Power over assistant minister, 35. 

Power over church music, 34. 

Presiding and returning officer, 32. 

Can be dismissed only by congregation and bishop, 27. 

His right to be heard, 31. 

His duty generally, 33. 

His duty as to marriage, 88. 

The law extends him peculiar protection, 27. 
Resignation of vestryman invalid unless accepted, 16. 

S. 
Seal, common power to use, 19. 
What constitutes, 19. 
When required, 20. 

T. 

Taxation, what church property exempt, 78. 

Liable for local improvements, 78. 

To what extent clergy exempt, 80. 
Time of keeping polls open, 10. 
Trustees of church property, 62. 

How elected, 70. 

The act of organizing them, 62. 

Of Parochial Fund in W. N. Y., 64. 

Powers and duties of, 63. 

Of Diocese of Central New York, 66. 

Of Diocese of Albany, 74. 

Of Diocese of Long Island, 76. 

V. 

Vacancies, how created, 16. 

Special election to fill, 17. 

Vestry must order, 17. 
Vestry, how first vestry elected, 9. 

How subsequent vestries elected, 13. 

Rector constituent part of, 27. 

Must order special election, 17. 



INDEX. 211 

Vestry, what constitutes, 18. 

Trustees of church property, 18. 

Power over temporalities, 20. 

Good faith required of, 21. 

Power to make rules, 22. 

Power to appoint minor officers, 22, 

Power to call and induct rector, 18. 

Power to hold and manage property, 20. 

May not dismiss rector, 28, 43. 

Meetings, how called, 38. 

Meetings, how conducted, 42. 

Meetings, how organized, 43. 

Five vestrymen and one warden must be present, 40. 

Action of majority necessary, 41. 

Can only act at meetings regularly called, 41. 

Withdrawal after meeting organized, 43. 

Power as to sale of lands, 47. 

Power to mortgage, 48. 

Power as to pews, 49. 

Hold office until successors legally elected, II. 
Vestrymen, qualifications of, 10. 

Change of number, 56. 
Votes, illegal, when will not vitiate election, 8. 

Unchallenged, cannot be questioned, 8. 
Voters, qualifications of, at first meeting, 7. 

Qualifications of, at after meetings, 13. 

W. 

Wardens, qualifications of, 10. 

Proceedings to recover property in name of rector, wardens, 
and vestrymen, 21. 
Worship, of religious, 83. 

Freedom of, 83. 

Freedom of, how enforced, 83. 

Disturbing, 85. 

Who may regulate, 86. 



INDEX TO APPENDIX 



The Presbyterian Church. 

Associate churches, 144. 
Bequest to society, 147. 
By-laws of trustees, 139. 
Casting vote, 140. 
Cemeteries, 150. 
Certificate of first election, 124. 

of incorporation of presbytery, 147. 
" of subsequent election, 137. 

Change of time for holding elections, 146. 
•' of name, 145. 
' ' of term of office, 146. 
Clerk, duties of, 140. 
Classification of trustees, 131. 
Conduct of election, 122. 
Consolidation of Churches, 146. 
Deed, error in, 152. 
Dissolution of corporation, 153. 
Duties of trustees, 127. 
Election, how conducted, 122. 

first, of trustees, 122. 

subsequent, of trustees, 132. 

how noticed, 132. 

how conducted, 122. 

of trustees, 132. 
Electors, qualifications of, 122. 

" who are, 122. 
Errors in deed, 152. 



214 INDEX TO APPENDIX. 

Form of certificate, first election, 124. 

subsequent election, 137. 
" " writing fixing salary, 141. 
" " notice of election, 122. 
Free churches and chapels, 152. 
History of, 119. 
Incorporation of, 121. 

" Presbyteries, 147. 
Lands, power of trustees over, 126-143. 
" may not be sold by trustees, 126-143. 
" how sold, 126. 

" mortgaged, 126. 
Majority of trustees constitute a quorum, 139. 
Marriage, law of, 88. 
Meetings of trustees, 139. 

" how called, 139. 

" " " " conducted, 139. 

to increase or diminish trustees, 142. 
" how called, 142. 

" conducted, 142. 
Mortgage of lands, 126. 
Notice of election, 121. 
Parsonages, trustees for, 151. 
Pews, 156. 

Power over buildings, 130. 
" of presbyteries, 149. 
" " trustees, 125. 
Petition for dissolution of society, 154. 
Presbyteries, how constituted, 147. 
Qualification of voters, 122. 
Quorum of trustees, 139. 
Reports of income, 143. 
Secretary, duties of, 140. 
Sale of lands, 126, 127. 
Salary of clergyman, 141. 
The corporate seal, 125 
Temporalities, power of trustees over, 126. 



INDEX TO APPENDIX. 21 5 

Two trustees may call meeting, 140. 
Trustees, how elected, 132. 
Vacancies, 138. 
Voters, who are, 122. 

The Baptist Church. 

Certificate of election, 164. 
Classification of trustees, 165. 
Election of first " 163. 
History of the Baptist Church, 159. 
Incorporation, 162. 
Meetings of Trustees, 165. 
Notice of election, 163. 
Powers of trustees, 165. 
Qualification of voters, 162. 
Southern New York Association, 168. 
Voters, who are, 162. 

Reformed Dutch Church. 

Certificate of incorporation, 173. 
Change of name, 178. 
Election of trustees, 174. 
Government of the Church, 172. 
History " " " . 169. 

Incorporation of, 172. 
The Consistory, 179. 
Trustees, election of, 174. 

Methodist Episcopal Church 

Book of Doctrines, 183. 

Camp-ground corporations, 184-187. 

Certificate of incorporation, 185. 

Constitution of, 186. 

Powers of trustees, 188. 

Privileges of the corporation, 184. 

Sale of Church property, 184. 

Two-thirds of. trustees members of Church, 183. 



2l6 INDEX TO APPENDIX. 

Young Men's Christian Associations. 

Certificate of incorporation, igi. 
How incorporated, 189. 
Paper of association, 190. 
Powers of trustees, 192. 
Qualifications of trustees, 192. 
Sale of realty, 193. 

Congregational Churches. 

Certificate of incorporation, 196. 
Congregation may change its rules, 198. 
Incorporation of, 195. 
Meetings, how conducted, 197. 
Notice of meetings, 197. 
Who may vote, 196. 
Vacancies, how filled, 197. 

Greek Church, 203. 

Roman Catholic Church, 198. 






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